Chigan
by hinatasgreatestfan
Summary: Naruto finds something VERY interesting in the Scroll of Sealing when he's learning the Shadow Clone Jutsu.
1. Revelation

Author Note: I know the introductions are very different in this than they were in canon, I did that on purpose. Don't flame me for that.

Chapter 1

Naruto looked up and saw what he was looking for. A small shack stood in a clearing just ahead of him. This was the place Mizuki told him about, it HAD to be. He chuckled. This was just perfect, no one would bother him here for a while. He could sit down and learn a jutsu from this blasted scroll and pass the exam.

Naruto unrolled the scroll. _"Okay, what's the first jutsu here?"_ he thought to himself. It was Shadow Clone Jutsu. UGH! Naturally, it had to be a more advanced form of his WORST jutsu, didn't it? _"Oh, well, I might as well get down to it and learn this damn thing,"_ he thought. Then something caught his eye. It was a small seal on the bottom corner of the scroll. He knew about storage scrolls, of course, and this seal looked just like that; the kanji for what was stored in it was "scroll." What could that mean? He thought to himself, _"All right, let's just give it a try, why not?"_ Thinking such, he bit his thumb and spread a little blood on the seal, expecting nothing to happen. To his surprise, a puff of smoke appeared and a small scroll was sitting on the ground beside the larger one. He picked it up and shoved it in his pocket, then got back to working on learning how to create Shadow Clones.

Four Hours Later

HA! He'd done it! He had finally created Shadow Clones. Naruto, the failure, the only one in his class to fail the Clone Jutsu, had MASTERED the Shadow Clone Jutsu! He was going to move on to the next jutsu, but then he heard the voice behind him.

"It's all over, Naruto," the voice said. Naruto grinned as he turned to find the voice's owner, Iruka Umino, standing behind him.

Naruto chuckled, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "Found me already? Not bad, sensei. I only had time to learn one jutsu," Naruto said, grinning.

Iruka was surprised. He could tell Naruto had been training out here. That's when Naruto told Iruka why he'd done this, namely because Mizuki told him anyone who learned a jutsu from that scroll passes the final exam. Iruka was shocked. Then they both were shocked to see kunai flying out of the trees. Iruka pushed Naruto out of the way and took the attack. Iruka was now pinned to the wall of the shack.

"Found our little hideaway, I see. Well, it's good to know my secret isn't the only one you know, Iruka," Mizuki said, glaring at Naruto. Naruto looked at the Chuunin in the tree in confusion. "Oh, that's right, Naruto, you don't even know."

"NO, MIZUKI!" Iruka shouted out. "YOU CAN'T TELL HIM! IT'S FORBIDDEN!"

Now Naruto was curious. "Okay, what are you talking about Mizuki?" he asked.

"Oh, so now you want to know? All right, Naruto, I'll tell you. The fact is, the Nine-Tailed Fox is inside YOU. That's why everyone in the village hates you, treats you like dirt. They all know, but no one would tell you. They wouldn't tell you because they were afraid of you, seeing as you ARE the Nine-Tailed Fox!" Mizuki said, his own voice dripping with malice.

Naruto thought about what Mizuki had said. It certainly explained a lot, didn't it? The way the villagers acted, hell, even his teachers, except for Iruka, of course, had acted that way. That thought reminded Naruto of his sensei, pinned to the shack. He looked over and saw Iruka watching him, a look of worry on his face. "It's not true, sensei. I'm not the fox," Naruto said, needing confirmation.

"No, Naruto, you're not the fox, I know that," Iruka said back. Naruto smiled a little at that. That's all he needed.

Naruto turned to Mizuki. "I notice you didn't tell me before this either. In that case, if you really think I'm the fox, why don't you come after me? Take me out, since I'm sure that's what you intended to do here to begin with," Naruto said, giving Mizuki a glare.

Mizuki, surprised, hopped down from the tree and came at Naruto. Then he turned and started to go after Iruka. _"Oh, HELL NO!"_ Naruto thought. There's no way that's gonna fly. He leapt in front of Iruka and glared at Mizuki. "You EVER lay a hand on my sensei, I'll KILL YOU!" he snarled.

Mizuki appeared unfazed, but really he was surprised. "Show me what you can do, Nine-Tailed Fox," he said back derisively.

"Give me your best shot, fool," Naruto said, grinning. "I'll give it back to you a thousand-fold." Saying so, he formed a cross with the first two fingers of each hand and yelled out, "MULTI SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!" Suddenly, the surrounding forest was populated with hundreds, if not thousands of Naruto clones. Mizuki was shocked and, to say the least, frightened. He couldn't move. "All right then, if you're not coming, we're coming after you," Naruto and his clones said. Then all of them rushed Mizuki, leaving him unconscious and pretty badly beaten moments later.

An Hour Later

Naruto was feeling rather pleased with himself. He had been granted ninja status, in spite of his failure yesterday at the exam, Iruka had given him his headband, and he had learned an awesome jutsu to boot. Naruto grinned as he walked into his apartment. He had to go to the academy to find out about his team soon, but for right now, he had a little time. He suddenly remembered what he had found in the scroll, that other, smaller one. He pulled it out of his pocket. He looked at it, wondering what in the world he had found.

Sitting down on his bed, Naruto unrolled the scroll and looked it over briefly. At the top, it said "Namikaze Bloodline: Chigan." Naruto pondered that; he knew the name Namikaze, of course; the Yondaime Hokage's name was Minato Namikaze, after all. Naruto started reading the scroll.

"If you are reading this scroll, it means you have unsealed it from the Scroll of Sealing kept in the Hokage's office. This means either you have been shown it for some reason or you are the Hokage yourself, but either way, the only one who can unseal this scroll from that one is one who carries the blood of the Namikaze. As there is only one person who carries that blood other than myself, I have to assume it is you reading this, Naruto." At that, Naruto paused in shock. Wait a minute, what in the world did this mean? He had the blood of the Namikaze? He kept reading. "Naruto, I'm sure no one has told you this as yet, but you are my son. I am the Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze, and you are my son." Now Naruto was in true shock. He was the son of the Fourth Hokage? No, it couldn't be! Yet the scroll, obviously being written by said man himself, said he was! He read on. "First off, let me apologize to you. I couldn't ask another family to allow me to use their child if I was unwilling to use my own to seal the Kyuubi into, so I used you. I'm sorry for that. However, there will come a day when the power of the beast will aid you greatly, I assure you. However, that is not the point of this scroll. I'm writing this scroll to tell you of, and teach you to activate, our bloodline." Naruto paused again, letting what he had just read sink in. So what Mizuki said about the Fox was true, and it was sealed into him by his own father huh? He smiled at that. And now he had discovered not only was he the son of the Fourth, but that his clan had a bloodline. He read on. "The bloodline we carry is called the Chigan, or blood eye." Then there followed a brief explanation of how to activate the dojutsu. In essence, all Naruto had to do was focus chakra to his eyes and speak the word "Chigan" to turn it on. He discovered that he had an easier time focusing his chakra while forming the "ram" hand sign, but that wasn't necessary. He read on and found out the ways in which this dojutsu worked, among other things. He grinned. He'd have to try this out when he went to the academy to find out about his future team. Speaking of which... he turned and looked at his clock and gasped. He had to get going NOW or he was going to be late. He rushed out the door.

Naruto arrived at the academy in record time, about forty-five seconds after he ran out his own door. He had never run so far so fast in his whole life. He took a few moments to catch his breath, then walked into the classroom and found an open seat. He sat down, not really thinking where he was. He turned to his right and saw someone sitting there. From the angle he was looking, all he could see was raven hair. Raven hair? There were only two people in his class with hair that dark, and this hair was certainly NOT cut into the shape of a chicken's ass. That left only... "Hinata?" he asked, surprised.

Hinata looked over at Naruto. She had been afraid he wouldn't notice her, even when he sat right next to her. "Y-Y-Yes, N-N-Naruto?" she stammered out.

Naruto gave the girl his trademark grin, wondering why she was blushing and stammering like that. He'd talked to her a few times before, yes, and she always seemed to do that. "What's up, Hinata? You excited about getting our teams today?" he asked her, smiling.

Hinata was in shock. He was talking to her! Asking her questions at that! This was too good to be true! She pinched herself, just to make sure. Nothing changed. _"Don't faint, don't faint, don't faint,"_ she repeated to herself over and over. She smiled at Naruto, blushing furiously. "Y-Yes, I'm e-excited. I'm kind of n-nervous too, though," she answered.

Naruto looked slightly confused. "Why would you be nervous?" he asked her. "Afraid you'll get someone you don't like on your team?"

She blushed. He wasn't far off, actually. "Well, it's not so m-much th-that," she said. "It's more that I h-hope to g-get on a t-team with s-s-someone in p-particular."

Naruto's face fell. There was only one person a girl in the class would blush and stammer like that over wanting to be on a team with: Sasuke. He looked at Hinata. "Let me guess. Sasuke, right?" he said, feeling very bitter and dejected. Hinata gasped, wondering what had come over Naruto all of a sudden. His normal cheerful grin was gone and she saw in his eyes a look of such pain, such hurt, that she couldn't believe it. She had known he was hurting, yes, but not this much.

The pain in his eyes gave her new courage. She looked him straight in the eyes and said, "No, Naruto, I'd rather die than be on a team with Sasuke. The one I'm hoping to be on a team with is you."

Naruto was shocked, to say the least. Hinata wanted to be on a team with HIM? "Me? Why would you want to be on a team with me? I mean, I'm dead last in our class, even I know that. I mean, really, wouldn't you rather be on a team with someone who's strong and 'cool' or whatever like Sasuke is?" he asked her. He was legitimately confused.

"Naruto, I know you're the last in our class, but I also know how hard you try and how you put your whole heart and soul into everything you do. I also know how everyone treats you and how you put on that smile of yours to hide the pain. I know how hard it has to be for you. And Naruto, because of that, I admire you, I look up to you. Sasuke might be cool, but he's also a royal jerk with a stick up his ass the size of Hokage Mountain," she said, then blushed at the last part. Naruto thought about what she had said and burst out laughing, not at her blush but at the image of Sasuke sitting on a stick the size of the mountain. Hinata giggled with him, then when they both calmed down, she resumed speaking. "Naruto, I know you've always been alone, and I know you've gone through a lot. I'm sorry I haven't done this before now, but would you like us to be friends?" she had no idea why she was suddenly so confident, but she wasn't going to stop now.

Naruto was surprised. "You mean it, Hinata? You really want us to be friends?" The shy girl nodded, blushing furiously. "Then yes, I would like that very much," Naruto answered her.

"I'm glad, Naruto, really. I promise, you'll never have to be alone again, I'll always be your friend," Hinata said, smiling a little. Naruto gave her a true smile, and the girl felt her heart melt. She had no idea what gave her the courage to do it, but she leapt forward and hugged Naruto. Naruto was surprised, but he hugged her back. "I'm sorry I didn't do this sooner, Naruto. But now that I have, I'll always be here for you," Hinata said softly in his ear. The two separated and Hinata sat back down. Naruto's smile didn't waver for an instant. He finally had a real friend. Hinata, for her part, was smiling as well. She couldn't believe she had the nerve to say and do all that, but now that she had, she felt so much better. She might be blushing, but she was happy for the first time in a very, very long time.

What neither Naruto nor Hinata knew was that, while the classroom was empty other than them so far, their conversation had been witnessed by the Hokage and Iruka. The two were in the Hokage's office; they had been discussing what team to put Naruto on now that he had passed. They had decided to watch him interact with people in the class before Iruka went there, and they had seen the whole incident between him and Hinata. The two looked at one another and smiled. Yes, those two were going to be on a team, that was certain now. Naruto looked happier than they'd ever seen him, and so did Hinata, so there was no way they were going to separate those two, even if it meant completely changing another team around.

Twenty Minutes Later

Iruka entered the classroom and found most of the students already there. He smiled at Naruto and Hinata, who were still talking quietly. He chuckled when he imagined Ino's annoyance when she found out who her teammates were, and he sent a slight glare at Sasuke, who was staring at the wall, as usual. He smiled, thinking of how pleased Naruto would be and how happy Hinata would be to be on a team together. He knew (like everyone else in the class EXCEPT Naruto) that Hinata had a huge crush on the blond knucklehead. Iruka, though, was one of the very few who knew why and didn't think Hinata was stupid for liking the boy.

"All right, class, let's get this show on the road," Iruka said, smiling. "You're all here to get your team assignments. So let's get it started."

Iruka proceeded to list off the first six teams with no real commotion. "All right, Team 7, Sasuke Uchiha, Shino Aburame, and Kiba Inuzuka," he said, causing groans from every girl in the room, except Hinata of course. "Team 8, Hinata Hyuga, Sakura Haruno, Naruto Uzumaki." This one caused Sakura to mutter something about being doomed and Hinata and Naruto to grin like Cheshire cats at one another. He chuckled at that, then read off Team 9's roster, which was like the first six, no real reaction. Then the final team. "Team 10, Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi." He almost laughed out loud at the look of sheer despair on Ino's face. If he knew anything about it, those three would end up being a hell of a team in time, but still, the look on Ino's face was priceless. Shikamaru and Choji looked pleased with it; he'd expected that, seeing as they were best friends. "All right, all of you wait here for your new sensei to come pick you up. Before you all go, though, I want to just say I'm proud of you all," Iruka said, looking at them all; his eyes rested on Naruto a moment longer than the rest, and the blond smiled and nodded back at him. That done, Iruka left the room, leaving his former students to await their sensei.

Naruto's team and Sasuke's team were soon the only ones left in the room. Naruto and Hinata were still talking, while Sakura was trying desperately to get Sasuke's attention; the way she saw it, this could be her last chance for a long time to do so, if not her last chance period. Naruto pointed out Sakura's antics to Hinata, who giggled. Naruto was enjoying spending time with the shy girl, and even more, he liked making her laugh. A few moments later, Kurenai Yuhi entered the classroom.

"Team 8, come with me," Kurenai said. Naruto, Hinata, and Sakura followed, the first two happily, the last reluctantly. When the new team had arrived at one of the nearby training areas, Kurenai sat them down. "All right, let's start by introducing ourselves. I'll go first," she began, her quiet voice ringing out through the forest. "My name is Kurenai Yuhi. I'm also known as the Genjutsu Mistress of Konoha. I'm sure, during our time together, you'll figure out why. I like fairness and kindness. I dislike people who judge others as failures and those who misuse the arts of genjutsu. My dream is to show the world that a kunoichi can be as great a shinobi as a male ninja." She turned to her new students; Sakura looked pensive, Naruto was smiling, and Hinata was looking up at her with sheer admiration in her pale eyes. She pointed at Sakura, "All right, you next."

Sakura nodded. "My name is Sakura Haruno. I like spending time with my family and friends and Sasuke, I dislike Naruto. My dream is to be a strong kunoichi who is worthy to be the wife of a strong ninja," she said. She seemed to be expecting some reaction from Naruto, who just grinned at her. Kurenai nodded at Sakura's introduction, then turned to Naruto.

Naruto thought a moment, then began. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki. I like my friends, especially Hinata. I dislike those who would hurt me or those who are precious to me. My favorite food is ramen. My dream is to become the greatest Hokage Konoha has ever seen!" he said. The smile on his face never once wavered.

Kurenai smiled at his words, especially his mention of Hinata. She noticed that Hinata blushed at that, which made her chuckle slightly. She turned to Hinata and nodded that it was her turn. Hinata smiled softly and began. "My name is Hinata Hyuga. I like my friends and the people who treat me well, especially Naruto. I dislike people who judge people without knowing them. My hobby is pressing flowers. My dream is to become head of the Hyuga and change the ways of the clan," she said in a soft but determined voice.

Kurenai smiled and nodded at her new team. "All right, you're all very different people, and you all have your own dreams. I look forward to training you all and making you the best shinobi you can be. Tomorrow you'll have a single test to make sure you're ready, however. Meet here tomorrow morning at 10:00. See you then. Oh, and I suggest you eat a big breakfast. You'll need all the energy you can get," she said, then vanished in a puff of smoke.

Sakura got up and excused herself, then ran off in search of Sasuke. She didn't know Team 7 was still sitting in the classroom waiting for their sensei, so, needless to say, she never found him. Naruto and Hinata walked together to the Hyuga compound. Hinata smiled and thanked Naruto for walking her home, then walked into the Main Family's home. Naruto smiled and walked home himself. So it was that Team 8 began their lives as shinobi and their adventures together. None of them had even the slightest inkling of the dangers that lay before them.


	2. The Test

Chapter 2

Upon awakening the following morning, Naruto climbed out of bed and groaned. He had a slight headache. Then he grinned; his test was today. The smile stayed on his face as he got ready for the day. He felt ready for anything by the time his breakfast was eaten and he had showered and dressed. He thought back to the scroll his father had left him. He chuckled, thinking how people would react when he revealed his bloodline. However, since it didn't really do anything yet, he wasn't going to tell anyone just yet. Better to have no bloodline than one with no real use, right? Then he groaned, realizing he didn't really know what other bloodlines were around in the village or who had them. He chuckled at his own frustration and nodded. He'd just have to wait and see.

Leaving his apartment, he was whistling quietly as he thought of taking a test with his new team. He liked Sakura, and now that he and Hinata were friends, he was very happy with his team. He laughed a little, then took off as quick as he could to the training ground. He didn't want to be late.

When Naruto arrived at the training area, he found his two teammates already there, waiting for him. Sakura looked annoyed, but Hinata was smiling and blushing at him. He remembered how she'd seemed so confident the day before and wondered what was up with her, but he shrugged it off, remembering that this, the blushing and shy smiles, was much more like how she normally was.

"Morning, Sakura, Hinata," he greeted them both with his trademark grin. He hoped the two of them would at least accept him. Well, he knew Hinata would, so really he was just hoping Sakura would as well. Both girls gave him smiles, Hinata's sincere, Sakura's seemingly forced.

"Morning, Naruto," Sakura said. She didn't seem happy really, but she didn't seem upset at him either, so that was a start.

"G-G-Good morning, N-Naruto," Hinata stammered, blushing. She berated herself for still being shy after hugging Naruto the day before and getting him to agree to be her friend, but she couldn't help it. Naruto walked over to the two girls, his grin never wavering.

"So, either of you have any idea what this test today is about?" he asked them. Both girls shook their heads. His smile faltered just a bit. "I was afraid of that. Well, I guess we'll just have to stick together and get through it, right?"

Hinata nodded rapidly, thinking to herself that she'd love nothing more than to stick by his side. Sakura thought about it a moment, then nodded as well. "You're right, Naruto, whatever happens, we stick together as a team," Sakura commented. She was still annoyed that she wasn't on Sasuke's team, but she was determined to make the best of things. Oh, well, at least Ino wasn't on Sasuke's team either.

The three new teammates took a small step closer to one another, Naruto and Hinata seemingly taking an extra half-step toward one another, though neither noticed this. As the three were standing there talking, a puff of smoke suddenly enveloped all three and there, in the middle of them, stood Kurenai, a small smile on her face.

"Morning, team," she greeted them. All three nodded back to her. "Ready for your test?" They nodded again, their heads seemingly moving in unison. She was surprised, but impressed, that the three had seemingly figured out that they had to be united already. She grinned at them; they may have made a step in the right direction, but could they keep their unity when they were put to the test? "All right, you three. I'm going to hide somewhere near here in the forest. I won't move more than a single mile. Your first task is to find me. Your second task is to subdue me. The only rule I will follow is I won't attack you, I will only defend. You have three hours. GO!" Kurenai stated, then vanished in a puff of smoke. Naruto chuckled as he realized they had been talking to a shadow clone.

Naruto smiled. "She's smart. She didn't even come to meet us in person. That was a clone. So she could be anywhere. She said she wouldn't move more than a mile, not that she'd stay within a mile of here, so she could be literally anywhere in the forest near here, since she did say she'd be nearby. Still, how are we going to find her?" he said to the two kunoichi.

Sakura looked surprised. "You're right, Naruto. I hadn't even thought of that. So how do we start looking for her?" she said, grudgingly admitting that Naruto had spotted the deception in their sensei's words when she herself had missed it.

Hinata spoke up, her voice soft, "I m-may be able t-to h-help with f-finding her." Naruto and Sakura both looked at her. Sakura thought a moment, then realized what she meant and nodded. Naruto looked clueless. "BYAKUGAN!" Hinata said, activating her bloodline. Hinata scanned the area nearby and smiled softly when she found what she was seeking. There, about a hundred yards from them, was a chakra signature that matched what she knew of Jounin-level ninja. She gestured for the other two to follow her, and the three made their way into the forest.

As they walked, the three spoke softly. They arranged a signal for Hinata to tell them where Kurenai was without speaking.

Kurenai, meanwhile, saw the three of them coming and, noticing that they weren't bothering being stealthy, assumed they were just looking for her at random. She had to bite back a small chuckle when she saw the three of them stop directly below her, seemingly clueless. Hinata alone then walked over to a tree about five feet from the one she was in and did something with her foot. Kurenai recognized it as a nervous habit Hinata had, so she passed it off as nothing in her mind. Then Hinata made a slow circle from there, dancing in her step, as if she was just playing. Kurenai was confused by this, but she didn't think much of it; she did know Hinata had a fun-loving side after all.

The three on the ground grinned. Hinata's signal told them to within a foot where Kurenai was sitting. Naruto and Sakura looked up a little and saw her dangling foot and grinned. Not only had Hinata's signal worked, their sensei seemed totally oblivious to it. Kurenai saw them seemingly looking up toward her but passed it off as coincidence when both looked back toward Hinata, seemingly never noticing her.

That's when she got a shock. Both Naruto and Sakura disappeared in puffs of smoke. She was stunned. Shadow Clones? And one had been transformed? Then she got another surprise as several shuriken trailing wires wrapped around her and pinned her to the tree she was sitting in. Naruto and Sakura emerged from a tree directly in front of her and grinned. Kurenai was stunned.

"I do believe we win, sensei," Naruto said, grinning at her. Kurenai hadn't even had a chance to cast a genjutsu before her arms were pinned by the wires. Naruto was right, they had beaten her.

"You're right, Naruto, you do," she said back. "You all caught me off-guard. How did you know where I was?" She hated to admit it, but she still didn't have a clue how they'd spotted her.

"Hinata told us," Naruto said, laughing. "That motion with her foot was the signal to tell us what tree you were in. The first step of her 'dance' told us what side of the tree, and the number of steps she took, six, by the way, told us how far up. Since we were following up here, it was pretty easy to get in position while you were watching her. You see the results. Oh, and my clones helped too. Thanks for the idea, sensei." As Naruto was speaking, Hinata leapt up to join her teammates and sensei on the branch. The shy girl smiled at her sensei, blushing slightly.

Kurenai smiled. "You all not only got the point of this test, you accomplished the task I set to you. I'm impressed. Can you cut these wires now?" she said.

Naruto grinned and cut them. They hadn't been tight enough to hurt Kurenai, just keep her from moving, so when their sensei stood up, she was unharmed. "So did we pass then?" Naruto asked.

Kurenai grinned. "You three passed with flying colors. Congratulations, you are all three now officially Gennin. I'm proud of you," she answered them. Naruto whooped and leaped into the air. Sakura grinned widely and Hinata smiled her kind smile. That's when disaster almost struck. Naruto's leap didn't land quite where he took off from, and his footing slipped. His arms windmilled as he started to fall off the branch. Hinata acted. She grabbed his arm and pulled him back onto the branch. Kurenai, chuckling, said, "Let's celebrate this on the ground, where it's safer."

Team 8, sensei and students, jumped down to the ground and laughed at what had happened. Hinata blushed, thinking she had actually grabbed Naruto like that. Naruto thanked Hinata for saving him. Sakura just laughed at both of them, and Kurenai smiled at her team, happy and proud of all of them. Kurenai dismissed them, telling them they'd get their first mission the next day, then she left.

Naruto thought about what had happened during their test. Sakura had been a great teammate and worked well with him, but he was curious about Hinata and how she had found Kurenai to begin with. He decided to ask her. He turned to the shy girl, "Hinata, that thing you did was amazing when you first found Kurenai-sensei. How did you do that?" Sakura shook her head at the two of them and walked away. Naruto ignored her, giving all his attention to Hinata.

"What, y-you m-mean my B-Byakugan?" Hinata asked. Naruto nodded. "It's my K-K-Kekkei G-Genkai, Naruto. Why do you ask?"

Naruto was surprised. So Hinata had a bloodline? Perfect. Now he could try his out and maybe it would be worth something. And telling Hinata about his sounded like a good idea, too. "You have a bloodline, too?" he asked her, smiling.

Hinata looked at Naruto, confused. "You have a bloodline, Naruto?" she asked. When he nodded, she asked, "Why haven't you ever used it before? I mean, I didn't realize you even knew who your parents were, much less that they had a bloodline." She was seriously confused. After all, she and Sasuke had been the only ones she knew of in their class who had bloodline traits. She supposed Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji had them as well, but she didn't know. And Kiba's beast-like traits were probably one as well, but Naruto? No, she'd never known of any bloodline he might have.

Naruto chuckled. "I didn't even know about it myself until right after we graduated. You heard about the scroll being taken from the Hokage's office, right?" he asked. Hinata nodded, she had heard about that. "Well, that was me," he continued. She looked surprised, but listened. "That's how I learned the Shadow Clone Jutsu. The thing is, when I opened the scroll, there was a seal on the bottom. I didn't expect it to work, but I put a little blood on it, and a smaller scroll came out of it." Hinata was surprised by this, but she was listening raptly, hanging on Naruto's every word. Naruto thought a moment, then decided to tell Hinata everything. "I took the scroll home and read it. It said that it was written by Minato Namikaze and that there was only one person left who had his blood and could get the scroll out of there, namely me," he said. He waited for that to sink in. Hinata looked up at Naruto in shock. She knew the name Minato Namikaze, of course. Who didn't know the name of the Fourth Hokage, after all? And Naruto had his blood? Naruto smiled as he saw her realize what he meant. "It turns out, he's my father. That's what the scroll said. So I have his bloodline, which is called the Chigan."

Hinata thought long and hard about that. No, she was sure she'd never heard of that bloodline before. "Chigan? I've never heard of it before, Naruto," she said, wondering what the blond's bloodline was. "What does it do?"

"Well, the thing is, as it is right now, it doesn't do anything. But, if you're willing to do something for me, I could change that," he answered. He smiled at her, then added, "By the way, I haven't told anyone but you about this, so don't go telling anyone else just yet, okay?"

Hinata blushed. He was telling her before anyone else? And she could help him somehow? She looked up at him. "What can I do, Naruto?" she asked. "And I won't tell anyone."

Naruto smiled at her. "You know the Byakugan?" he asked. She nodded. "Well, all you'd need to do is activate it, so I can see it with my Chigan."

Hinata thought a moment. What was the harm in that? She couldn't see any reason not to, plus Naruto was asking her to, and there was almost nothing she'd ever deny him, so she finally nodded. "All right, Naruto," she said. She formed the hand-signs for the Byakugan and activated it. "BYAKUGAN!" she said, the veins around her eyes bulging. She kept it on as she watched Naruto.

Naruto concentrated chakra in his eyes while forming the "ram" handsign. "CHIGAN!" he said, activating his bloodline for the first time. He had his eyes closed as he did, but once he said it, he opened them and looked at Hinata. Since her Byakugan was active, the Chigan analyzed the Byakugan and incorporated it. Moments later, Naruto fell over and grabbed at his head as a massive headache tore through him. He forced himself to keep his bloodline active, knowing if he turned it off now, it would ruin the process. He had been warned of this in that scroll, after all.

After a few moments, the headache passed and he looked around. His sight was so much crisper, clearer. He looked at Hinata and could see her chakra network, especially where she had chakra concentrated in her eyes, keeping her Byakugan active. Naruto realized that he must look much the same to her. "Is this how you see things, Hinata? You see the chakra network?" he asked her. Then he realized that he could see the trees behind him and quite a range, too. "And all around and for such a distance?" he said, marveling in it.

In her shock, Hinata deactivated her Byakugan. Naruto was seeing what she could see? She looked at his eyes and her jaw dropped. Where Naruto's eyes were normally white outside and a crystal clear blue in the center, it was now the other way around. The whites of his eyes were now the cerulean blue and the center of his eyes were stark white. _"So that's the Chigan?"_ she thought to herself. In spite of how strange it looked, she found it oddly beautiful. Naruto closed his eyes, and when he reopened them, they were back to normal. He looked over at Hinata, who still looked shocked.

"Something wrong, Hinata?" he asked her.

Hinata blushed a little. "No, just your eyes looked so different when you had your Chigan active. I've never seen anything l-like that before," she said. When Naruto raised an eyebrow, she told him what she'd seen.

Naruto was surprised. He hadn't thought that his bloodline would actually make his eyes look different, but that just made it all the cooler. Hinata looked at him, confused. She was still trying to figure out what his bloodline did. Naruto chuckled. "I guess you're trying to figure out what the Chigan does, right?" he asked. Hinata blushed at being caught, then nodded. "Well, the only bloodline I know of in the village other than mine, and yours now, is the Sharingan. You know how it copies jutsu by copying hand-signs and all that?" he asked her. Hinata nodded; of course she knew about the Sharingan. No Hyuga didn't. "Well, the Chigan is kind of like the Sharingan, except it doesn't copy hand-signs or jutsu, it copies bloodlines. When it looks at someone with an active bloodline, it copies it, and from then on, whenever I have it active, I can use that bloodline, same as my own. So now, if I activate it, I can use your Byakugan if I want to," he explained.

Hinata was surprised, but not displeased. She realized that just by activating her Byakugan, she had helped Naruto get stronger. She felt proud of that. "That's quite the bloodline, Naruto. It must be extremely draining, though," she said. Naruto chuckled. Even just having had it active for a minute, he had felt more drained than when he had made the thousand clones that he used to take out Mizuki.

"You're right about that. I can make thousands of clones without feeling the drain, but having this active for just a minute I feel it quite a bit," Naruto said.

Hinata thought about that, then realized something was odd about what he'd said. "How can you have that much chakra, Naruto? I mean, if I tried to make even one Shadow Clone, I'd probably have some serious issues. You can make thousands before you feel drained? That must mean you have literally thousands of times as much chakra as I do. I mean, I can tell by looking you have more than most people do, but that much? How do you have so much?" she asked.

Naruto thought a moment, then realized exactly how. He hung his head, realizing there was no way around it. He had to tell Hinata his secret, the one he'd only just found out himself two nights ago. He took a deep breath. "Hinata, you know how I said I'm the son of the Fourth?" he asked. She nodded. "Well, that being the case, I'm sure most people realize that's who I am, yet most of the villagers hate me and treat me like dirt. You've noticed that, haven't you?" he pressed on. Hinata nodded again; she had noticed that and always wondered why. In fact, she had even been told by her own clan to stay away from him, but no one would tell her why. "I'm sure you've wondered why," Naruto continued. Hinata nodded for a third time, hanging on his words. "I did, too, for a long time. Now, I know why," he said, making Hinata gasp. "I'll tell you, Hinata, because I truly believe you're my friend. Just don't tell anyone else, okay?" he asked. Seeing her nod, he continued, "You know the story about how the Fourth defeated the Kyuubi, I'm sure. The thing is, the story everyone has been told isn't quite true. The story says he killed it. He didn't. No mortal can kill one of the tailed beasts. Instead, all he was able to do was seal it away. He sealed it into a newborn baby." Hinata looked at him curiously. He raised his shirt and concentrated his chakra, making the seal on his belly form. Hinata looked at it in shock. "He sealed it into me," Naruto finished.

Hinata was shocked. She'd been told all her life that Naruto was a monster, and now she knew why. But no, he wasn't a monster, he just had one sealed in him. She thought about it and realized that every day he lived and contained the beast, he kept it from the village. Of course, that explained why everyone treated him how they did, they thought he was the beast. But no, she knew better. She ran over and hugged Naruto. Naruto, surprised, hugged her back. "Thank you, Naruto," she said softly.

Naruto looked at her in shock. "What are you thanking me for, Hinata?" he asked.

Hinata looked at him. "Every day you live and keep that beast locked away, you protect the village from it. You're a hero, Naruto. From the day you were born, you've been protecting the village with your very body, and even now, you protect us all. Thank you," she said. Then she added, "And thank you for trusting me enough to tell me about it." Naruto smiled at her, a true smile, and she blushed, feeling her heart melt as it always did when he smiled like that.

Naruto was very surprised, but pleased. He hadn't expected her to accept him so easily. "Thank you, Hinata. Thank you for accepting me and staying my friend after this," he said.

Hinata blushed a little. "Naruto, this just adds to my admiration for you. You've carried a burden like this your whole life, you've been hated and never known why, and you still want to protect the village. You're the strongest person I know, Naruto. I'm truly proud to be your friend," she said, blushing deeper. Her voice was soft, but her stutter seemed to be gone now. She added to herself, _"I just wish I was more than your friend,"_ but she didn't dare say that to him, at least not yet. She did, however, blush all the more at the very thought of it.

Naruto smiled at the blushing girl. He was truly happy for the first time in a long time. He had a true friend who accepted him, even knowing his secret. He had gained a new power today, and he didn't feel lonely anymore. On impulse, he hugged Hinata gently, holding her close a moment. As he pulled back from her, he kissed her on the cheek lightly. He smiled at her, then said, "Thank you, Hinata, for everything. I feel a lot better now. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" She nodded, unable to speak. Naruto grinned and ran off for home. Hinata reached up, put a hand to her cheek where Naruto had KISSED her, then promptly fainted. Both Naruto and Hinata felt that today was the beginning of something wonderful between them, and their futures had never looked brighter. Neither knew how right they were, but neither knew how many dangers they would face together, either. But neither really cared.


	3. Mission

Chapter 3

Naruto was hiding in the woods. He knew Hinata and Sakura were close by, but he couldn't see either one of them. He decided this was a good time to try his new bloodline; after all, he'd just gotten it the day before and this was their first mission, so why not? He concentrated some chakra to his eyes, whispered "Chigan!" and at first nothing happened.

Naruto was confused at first, then he remembered he'd have to consciously activate the Byakugan he'd copied, it wouldn't just come on; he chuckled at himself and simply thought of the Byakugan and suddenly it was on. He smiled at how easy, how natural it was. He used his new sight to pinpoint where the target was; it was about ten feet from him.

Then he saw Hinata and he could tell her Byakugan was on as well and figured she could see him; she was about ten feet from the target as well, just in a different direction. Next he saw Sakura. She was the third corner of the triangle the three of them had formed, the target in the center.

"Sakura, I'm in position," Sakura spoke then, Naruto and the others hearing it in their radios.

"Naruto, I'm ready, believe it!" he said, grinning.

"H-Hinata, I'm in position," their third teammate said.

Kurenai, a short distance from her team, smiled softly at them. "All right, everyone ready," she said; all three crouched, ready to spring. "NOW!" she said, then watched as her team leapt in unison from their hiding spots and landed on their target.

As he was jumping, Naruto deactivated his Chigan, not wanting the others to see it just yet. He landed first, much to his misfortune, and grabbed the target.

"RRROW!" was the reaction given by said target, Tora, the Daimyo's wife's cat. She then turned and began to mercilessly maul her captor, who just held onto her determinedly.

Sakura, seeing the ribbon on the cat's ear, radioed in to Kurenai-sensei. "Target acquired," she said.

"Can you confirm, ribbon on right ear?" Kurenai asked, just to make sure.

"Affirmative," she said back, chuckling at Naruto's plight.

"Mission accomplished, team," their sensei said, proud of the three of them. "Lost pet Tora, captured."

Naruto, annoyed, yelled out, "Can't we get a better mission than this? I HATE CATS!" He'd never thought much of them one way or another before, but now he'd made up his mind: cats SUCK!

A few minutes later, the team reported in to the Hokage and handed over Tora. The Third Hokage grinned at the team, surprised they had accomplished their mission so quickly. He didn't want to show it, but he was impressed with them. He had been watching them, and he could tell they were a perfect team. He grinned, thinking how easily this team had come together, then shook his head slightly, wishing Team Seven in particular was working as well. Then he looked at the available missions in front of him. There were several D-rank missions there of course, but there was one C-rank mission as well. He looked at that one good and hard, thinking.

Before him was a team with a functional Kekkei Genkai, a very sharp mind, and Naruto, who seemed to surprise everyone on a daily basis. He looked at Kurenai, who was smiling proudly at her team. He didn't want to risk them on this, really, but he could always send another Jonin or even an ANBU with them, just in case. He thought about that a moment, then smiled; he had just the one.

"Kurenai, Naruto, Hinata, Sakura," Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke regally, gaining the attention of all four shinobi before him. "I have a mission for you four. I am going to add one more to your ranks for the duration, however; this is going to be your first C-rank mission, so I'm sending one of the ANBU Black Ops with you, just in case you run into trouble out there."

Naruto was surprised, but happy too. They were getting a C-rank already! Awesome! He only just barely kept himself from jumping around the room and whooping in celebration. Sakura and Hinata were both in shock; they hadn't expected to get a C-rank already, that was for sure, but still, they were happy, too. Hinata was nervous, but she felt confident they'd be fine; after all, Naruto would be there, so what could go wrong? Sakura, while a little nervous, was thinking that finally she had a chance to impress Sasuke, so she was happy too.

Kurenai was a little apprehensive, but she reminded herself that they'd have an ANBU with them in case things went wrong, so she wasn't too worried either. She bowed to the Hokage and spoke, "Lord Hokage, I thank you for your trust in my squad. May I ask one thing, however?"

Hiruzen chuckled a little. "Speak freely, please," he said, blowing smoke from his pipe as he did.

Kurenai smiled. "Will we know who the ANBU with us is? And will we see him?" she asked.

Hiruzen smiled, then raised one hand. An ANBU appeared by him. He spoke to Team Eight calmly, "This is Tenzo; his abilities I think will support those of your team well. I know your team has two taijutsu specialists," here he indicated Sakura and Hinata, "and you, Kurenai, are a genjutsu type, while Naruto is a ninjutsu type. However, Tenzo here has a special ninjutsu, and I believe it will help you greatly."

Kurenai nodded to the ANBU, who returned it, then turned back to the Hokage, "All right, but you didn't answer my other question; will we be able to see him out there?"

Hiruzen chuckled. "That's up to him. Tenzo, you are free to travel openly with them and without your mask or to back them up from the shadows, whichever you prefer; however, your orders are to support Team Eight in their mission and assist them in any way possible. Understood?"

Tenzo nodded, "Understood, Lord Hokage."

Kurenai turned to the man in the mask. "Will you travel with us where we can see you?" she asked, trying to hide her nervousness. She hated to be watched when she couldn't see the person watching her. "I'm glad to have your help either way, I'm just curious."

Tenzo turned toward the Hokage, who nodded. Tenzo removed his mask before answering. "I'll travel openly with you," he said to Kurenai, who smiled in relief. "I'll need a code name, will I not, Lord Hokage?"

Hiruzen smiled and nodded. "Your name will be Yamato," he said.

"Yamato. Understood, Lord Hokage," the newly-dubbed Yamato said, smiling kindly.

No one spoke for a moment, then the Hokage laughed at himself. He'd gotten so caught up in this business with Yamato he'd totally forgotten to assign the team their mission. He passed a scroll to Kurenai, who took it and opened it. "Send in our visitor," Hiruzen said.

The door opened and in walked an old man carrying a bottle of sake. It was fairly early in the morning, yet he drank of it deeply. He wore a sleeveless brown top, a white scarf around his neck, a white rope around his forehead, and beige pants. He looked at the group he was going to be escorted by. He almost snorted, but he could tell the two adults at least knew what they were doing; they made him feel somewhat confident in his chances, at least.

"I am Tazuna, a master bridge-builder," he said. "I must return to my village. I expect you to get me there even if it means giving up your lives."

Naruto snarled a little, then spoke, quietly for him, "We're ninja of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. We never do anything less."

Tazuna didn't want to admit it, but this kid's attitude impressed him. Between him, the two adults, and the determined looks he was getting from the boy's two female teammates, he somehow felt like he was going to be just fine. He nodded slightly to Naruto.

Hiruzen smiled at Naruto, feeling proud of his shinobi. "Your mission, Team Eight, is to escort Tazuna back to his home and protect him both in transit and while he completes the building of his bridge," he said. The five ninja being assigned the mission bowed to him. "Dismissed!"

Once outside, Kurenai turned to her squad. "It will take us two days of travel to get to the Land of Waves. Tazuna, can we rely on you to house us and feed us while we are in your country?" this was her first concern, really, as it would reduce drastically the amount of weight they would have to pack.

"Naturally," he said back. "We don't have much, but what we have we will gladly share."

She nodded. "All right, team, pack for two days of travel and have a few spare sets of clothes in case anything happens. Have plenty of ninja tools and such as well. We'll meet tomorrow morning at eight o'clock sharp. Dismissed!" With that, she disappeared. She was off to her home to prepare as well.

Naruto turned to his two teammates. "This is awesome!" he said, finally letting himself celebrate a little. Hinata giggled at his antics, while Sakura just rolled her eyes at him. "Come on, you two, let's go out for ramen to celebrate."

Sakura made a gagging sound. "Thanks, Naruto, but I'm going to have to pass. I promised my mom I'd be home early tonight," she said, clearing her throat.

Naruto, totally unfazed, smiled. "Okay, another time maybe," he said. She nodded and took off for home. "How about you, Hinata?" he asked, grinning.

Hinata blushed, thinking that this was pretty much a date. "Okay, sure," she said, smiling.

Naruto, not thinking, reached out and took her hand and led her toward his favorite restaurant. Hinata blushed furiously at his touch, but she wasn't about to complain. Soon, far too soon for Hinata's liking, they arrived at Ichiraku's, and Naruto let go of her hand. He reached up and held the flaps out of her way. She blushed deeper still at his gentlemanly gesture.

Moments later, the two were seated at stools in front of the counter. Naruto, grinning, said, "Hey, old man, hope you got plenty of ramen ready, we've got a celebration to have here!"

Teuchi grinned and turned to Naruto. "I've always got plenty ready for you, Naruto. Oh, who's your friend?" he asked upon seeing Hinata.

Naruto grinned even wider, if that's possible. "This is Hinata. She's one of my teammates. Our other teammate had to hurry home, so she couldn't come, but Hinata and I are here to celebrate. We just got assigned our first C-rank mission and we're leaving in the morning," he said.

Teuchi smiled, truly happy for Naruto. "Good for you. Tell your other teammate I said congratulations," he said. "Tell you what, to commemorate this event, each of you gets one bowl on the house, how about that?"

Naruto grinned wider still. "Wow, you're the best, old man!" he said. "I'll have two miso ramen, please. What about you, Hinata?"

Hinata smiled, thought a moment, then turned to Naruto. "What would you recommend for me? I've never had ramen before," she said.

Naruto was simultaneously shocked and flattered. He was shocked that Hinata had never had ramen before and flattered that she trusted him enough to ask for his recommendation. He thought about it a moment, then turned to Teuchi. "What would you say, old man? We can't have her first time eating ramen be a bad experience, now can we?" he chuckled, thinking that was impossible.

Teuchi smiled at the shy girl, thinking. "Well, Hinata, what kind of meat do you like? We have beef, chicken, pork, and shrimp, plus we have Naruto's favorite, the miso. We have a few others that are specialties, but those are the basics. Probably better to start with something simple, right, Naruto?" he said, remembering the blond's first time there.

Naruto chuckled, remembering that day, too. "Yeah, probably," he said. "What do you think, Hinata? Tell you what, get whatever you think you'll like. Since this is your first time eating ramen, it's on me. Got that, old man?"

Hinata blushed furiously as Teuchi nodded. "All right. I'll t-try the miso, if that's okay," she said, still blushing bright red. Teuchi nodded again. "Can I have one of the beef as well, sir?" she asked, thinking she might as well try that, too.

Teuchi grinned. "I'm glad you both have your appetites. Okay, Naruto, the beef is on me, the miso is on you," he said, chuckling at the two youngsters.

Naruto smiled and nodded. "Fair deal, old man," he said. Then he turned to Hinata, who was still blushing so bright tomatoes would be green with envy. "You all right, Hinata?" he asked, slightly worried.

Hinata took a deep breath and willed herself to stop blushing. Her face slowly returned to its normal complexion. She smiled at Naruto and nodded. "I'm fine," she said softly.

Naruto, seeing the redness of her face recede, accepted that. He smiled at her. "Oh, Hinata," he said, then lowered his voice to a mere whisper, leaning to her and speaking directly into her ear so only she could hear him. "Think of this as my thanks for accepting what I told you yesterday, too." As he said this, he patted his stomach, reminding her of the seal.

Hinata smiled and nodded. She got the idea. "No need to thank me, Naruto; I meant what I said yesterday," she said, her cheeks a little red again. This time, it was because having Naruto whisper so intimately to her like that had excited her a little.

Naruto was about to respond when Teuchi approached them and set their ramen down in front of them. Naruto grinned and grabbed two sets of chopsticks, one for himself and one for Hinata; he broke both and handed her one. Hinata accepted it and cautiously took a bite of her beef ramen. She was surprised at how the simple tastes blended together so well and transported her mouth to a level of paradise she'd only ever dreamed of before. Moments later, that bowl was empty.

Naruto, noticing her begin to eat with vigor, turned to his own ramen; the two finished their first bowls and moved on to their second at the same time. Within less than five minutes, both were finishing their second bowl and sitting back with nearly identical satisfied sighs.

Naruto smiled at Hinata. "I'm glad you enjoyed that," he said, chuckling at her slight blush.

Hinata nodded. "That was very good, Naruto, thank you," she said, smiling at him.

Naruto pulled out his wallet and handed Teuchi enough money to cover the two bowls they had to pay for, then the two left. Naruto smiled at Hinata, then said, "Let's get home and get ready; we have a mission in the morning. I'll see you at 8:00 tomorrow, all right?"

Hinata nodded and the two parted, each headed home to prepare for their mission. Naruto arrived home within minutes and packed up the few things he would need, then added a few cups of instant ramen, just in case they needed them. The young boy then crawled into bed and fell asleep and into dreams full of his upcoming mission.

Hinata returned home more slowly than Naruto did. While Naruto didn't particularly enjoy going home to his empty rooms, Hinata dreaded going home. Home was where her father was, with his cold looks and colder words. Far too soon for her liking, she was home.

Upon entering the Hyuga estate, Hinata was confronted almost immediately by her father, Hiashi. "Daughter, I'm told you finished your mission hours ago, why are you only now returning home?" he said, his voice cold.

"One of m-my t-teammates invited me out to c-celebrate our m-mission tomorrow. It's our first C-rank mission," she answered, forcing herself to maintain eye contact with her father throughout her response.

Hiashi was surprised to hear they'd assigned her a C-rank mission already, but he didn't show it. He simply nodded and said, coldly, "Try not to be a burden on your teammates, if you can help it." He then turned and left, leaving Hinata to herself; she was a little surprised he hadn't punished her for being out later than expected, but she wasn't going to push her luck.

Hinata made her way toward her room; as she was about to enter, another cold voice stopped her. "You seemed to be having a good time with Uzumaki this afternoon, cousin," Neji said to her.

Hinata gasped. It just figured Neji would have seen them. "I did have a good time with Naruto," she answered simply.

Neji folded his arms and coldly said, "Fitting, two failures bonding to one another. Perhaps your fate will see you two together yet." Having said this, Neji left.

Hinata entered her room, tears streaming from her eyes from Neji's words. She slowly, mechanically got out of her clothes, pulled on her nightgown, then packed for the mission and slipped into bed. She cried herself to sleep.

The following morning, Naruto was at the main gate of the village at 7:30. He was somewhat surprised to find Hinata already there before him. He smiled at her, but she just looked at the ground, her eyes red and puffy; Naruto could tell she'd been crying. He wanted to ask her what was wrong, but didn't know how to ask without hurting her, so he just stood there, shifting around awkwardly.

After twenty-five minutes that felt more like twenty-five years, Sakura and Kurenai-sensei finally got there. Naruto wanted to yell at them for being late, but really they were early, too, so he just kept his mouth shut. Moments later, Tazuna arrived as well; Yamato was only seconds behind the bridge-builder.

"Well, now that we're all here, shall we get this mission started?" Kurenai said, smiling.

Naruto yelled out "YES!" and the rest of them all nodded. Kurenai grinned and the small group took off toward the Land of Waves. None of them knew the dangers or adventures that awaited them.


	4. Team Eight Under Fire

Chapter 4

Team Eight was four hours out from the village. Naruto had been watching Hinata closely the whole time; the girl had never raised her eyes from the ground for more than a few moments since leaving. Naruto was getting seriously worried about her. He knew he wouldn't be able to keep quiet much longer; he had to know what was bothering his teammate.

The result of this was that both Naruto and Hinata were distracted, and neither was paying attention to the road beyond the necessity of knowing where the road ended and the forest began. Sakura wasn't anything even remotely resembling a sensory type ninja, so all she could do was watch the road and be on guard, which she did. Kurenai and Yamato, meanwhile, were the only ones who noticed a puddle alongside the road; given the circumstances, that wasn't surprising.

Kurenai created a Shadow Clone in the woods and substituted with it, so she was walking parallel to her team, while her clone was with them. Yamato, noticing this, quietly walked along with the three Genins. Kurenai was close enough to see them and, she believed, close enough to prevent them getting hurt when the attack she foresaw came. Soon enough, as Kurenai and Yamato had expected, two figures emerged from the puddle. The two were dressed in rags, had breathing masks covering their mouths, and each had a metal gauntlet covering one hand with a chain extending from it, attaching the two to one another. The two lunged, the chain flying, wrapping Kurenai in it. Not having a chance to move, Kurenai was captured by the chain, which was then pulled tight, cutting her to shreds.

"Kurenai-sensei!" Hinata screamed. Between her previous distraction and the shock of seeing her beloved sensei murdered in cold blood, the girl could barely move. The two attackers came at her next. Yamato had leapt to defend Tazuna, so he was too far from the shy girl to help her. Hinata blocked one attack, which led to her getting a shallow cut on the back of her hand. Naruto gasped; his friend was hurt! That just would not be allowed!

Naruto quietly activated his Chigan and the Byakugan he'd copied from Hinata. Suddenly he could see everything around him, including something in Hinata's bloodstream that was a purplish color. Poison! He just knew that's what it was. Oh, HELL NO! He turned toward the one who had hurt her in a rage. His eyes had changed again, though he didn't know it. His Chigan changed his eyes so that the whites of his eyes were blue and the center white, but now the whites of his eyes were blood red, while the center was white.

Naruto charged the man who had hurt Hinata. He looked at the boy coming at him. The sight of his red eyes with their white centers shocked Hinata, who realized after a moment what it meant, but the boy's target froze in fear. _"Those eyes! They're not natural!"_ he thought to himself. That was the last coherent thought the man would ever have.

Naruto, in his rage, concentrated chakra into his hands and began punching the man. Every punch Naruto landed crushed part of his target's chakra network. Hinata, who had activated her Byakugan when she realized Naruto was using his, was shocked at what he was doing to the man. She cringed at the extreme pain the man must have been experiencing. Naruto's final strike landed on the man's throat, crushing the final part of his chakra network and his windpipe in a single blow. Naruto then left the man to slowly die of suffocation. Hinata cringed, but she didn't dare move; she had seen the poison in her bloodstream as well when she activated her Byakugan.

Naruto, still seething, turned to the second man. "YOU!" he roared. The man looked at Naruto a moment and reacted to the red-and-white eyes the same way his partner had; in other words, he froze in fear. Naruto ran over and grabbed him by the front of his raggedy top, pulling him up to glare into his eyes. "Where's the antidote?" Naruto growled at the man. He didn't think to deny this boy, he simply reached into his hip-pouch and grabbed a small vial, which he handed to Naruto.

Naruto took it, then handed the man to Sakura, who was standing nearby throughout. Sakura took him and held one of his arms. Naruto took the antidote to Hinata, who took it. Naruto watched her closely until the poison in her was neutralized, then he breathed a sigh of relief. He deactivated his Chigan. By then, his eyes had returned to normal as his anger had faded. He smiled at Hinata, who returned a small smile of her own. What no one realized at the time was that Yamato had seen Naruto's eyes. Unlike most of the people in the village, however, he knew about the Fourth Hokage's bloodline and had seen it a time or two, so he recognized it in Naruto. He decided to approach Naruto about it later but to keep it to himself until then.

Naruto turned to make sure Sakura was all right, only to find Kurenai standing there, the second ambusher tied to a tree. "Kurenai-sensei!" he called. "You're all right!"

Kurenai smiled. "Yes, Naruto, I'm fine. Nicely done, Naruto. You, too, Sakura," she said. She then turned to Hinata. "I'm sorry you got hurt, Hinata, I didn't think you'd freeze up like that."

Hinata gasped. _"What did I do? All I did was get hurt. Naruto had to come save me! I was totally useless, all I did was get in the way! Damn it!"_ Hinata thought to herself. She looked at the wound on her hand and silently promised herself she wouldn't back down again. She looked at Naruto, the one she admired, and she was surprised to find him smiling at her. She blushed deeply but smiled back.

Soon enough, the team was back on the road, Hinata paying more attention to what was going on this time, Naruto still wondering what was bothering his teammate, Sakura still on her guard, and Kurenai and Yamato talking to Tazuna about what was really going on. The surviving ninja they had encountered had been left under the guard of one of Naruto's clones to await ANBU from Konoha. They had realized their mission was ranked incorrectly after the battle with the two Chunin, but none of them had wanted to stop, so they were continuing on their trip while their leaders got information from their client; after all, Yamato was sent with them in case something like this happened, wasn't he?

Naruto and Hinata were in the lead, Sakura behind them, and Kurenai, Yamato, and Tazuna bringing up the rear. Naruto quietly activated his Chigan and looked around using his copied Byakugan. He didn't see anyone anywhere nearby, so he deactivated it and took half a step closer to Hinata. He'd had enough of this; he was going to find out what was wrong.

"Hinata?" he said, speaking quietly so the others wouldn't hear. Hinata looked up at him, her eyes questioning. "Um, I noticed this morning you were really upset. So, what's wrong?" he asked, in his usual blunt, tactless manner.

Hinata couldn't help but smile at his caring, if tactless, question, but then she remembered what had had her so upset that morning. Her smile faded, her eyes filling with pain and tears. Naruto noticed this and put an arm around her shoulders gently to comfort her. Hinata was deeply touched by his caring gesture; she blushed deeply, but she smiled at him in gratitude.

"All r-right, N-Naruto," she said. "I'll tell you, but you h-have t-to pr-promise y-you won't t-tell anyone else, all right?" Naruto simply smiled and nodded, making an X over his heart with the index finger of his right hand. Hinata blushed again at his solemn manner, then she began her story. "Growing up, I've always been told I'm weak, a failure, a disgrace. I've never won a single spar with anyone in my clan, and I've never been able to see the chakra network or chakra points anywhere near as clearly as the rest of the clan. That is simply not acceptable for the heiress, they all tell me. My father doesn't train me anymore; he says he won't waste his time on me." Hinata was surprised she wasn't stuttering as she talked of this, but somehow she wasn't. It seemed like once she started talking, she just couldn't stop.

"My younger sister, Hanabi, is even stronger than I am, and she's only seven. My older cousin, Neji, has been beating me in spars since I began training; he's always been stronger than I. I am the heiress of my clan, yet I am the weakest of the clan, and that makes me a failure and a disgrace. Anyway, last night, when we went out, Neji saw us, and he made a point of telling me that I was a failure yet again, though I'm not sure why he thinks me being your friend constitutes failing. I told my father of this mission and all he said was for me to not be a burden to you and Sakura. Between those two, they had me feeling really down, so I cried myself to sleep last night. That's why I was so upset this morning. I'm sorry I worried you, Naruto." Hinata took a deep breath and bowed slightly to Naruto while walking. She remembered what else Neji had said and blushed, but she decided to keep that part to herself.

Naruto, meanwhile, was seething in rage. Her father, who should have been proud of her for having this mission, only told her to not be a burden? Her cousin, who should have loved her, saw her as a failure and looked down on her, even beating her in their training, even using her friendship with him as a weapon to hurt her? Her whole family saw her as a failure and a disgrace? Oh, HELL NO! Not on his watch, damn it!

Naruto turned to Hinata, his fists clenched. Somehow, he managed to keep his voice even when he spoke; he wasn't mad at Hinata, after all. "I'll help you, Hinata," he said. Hinata looked at him in shock. "I'll help you prove them all wrong. You'll be an amazing ninja one day, I'll see to that, and they will all regret disregarding you." Hinata could hear the anger in his voice, and she was thankful that it wasn't directed at her, though she had no idea where it _was_ directed; it never occurred to her that hearing how her family had treated her could be the cause of his rage.

The following three hours passed in silence. Naruto and Hinata didn't want to speak about their previous conversation, Sakura and Kurenai were content to simply keep watch for any threat, while Tazuna wasn't going to push his luck with the team since they had kept guarding him despite his deception. Hinata in particular was keeping herself busy by activating her Byakugan every few minutes and scanning the surrounding area, but, since she saw nothing and no one else wanted to talk, the time passed in, for the most part, comfortable silence.

After so long being quiet, Naruto was getting antsy, so he took a few steps closer to Hinata, who smiled gently at him. He returned the smile, then decided it was high time he said something. "Hey, Hinata?" he said, blushing slightly for some reason. She turned her attention to him and nodded for him to go on. "You know, I told you about learning the Shadow Clone Jutsu the night of our exams, right?" She nodded again. "Would you like to learn it, too?"

Hinata blushed. Naruto believed in her enough that he thought she could learn that? And he was willing to teach it to her? This was a dream come true. Now if only she could accept without fainting! "I-I-I w-would l-love it i-if y-you w-would t-t-teach it t-to m-me, N-Naruto," she said, her blush making her entire face not only feel like it was on fire but look that way, too. Naruto, who had slowly realized that Hinata didn't hate him and was just shy, smiled. Then she added, "I'm n-not sure I'll be able to d-do it, but if you want to t-teach me, I'll certainly do m-my b-best to learn it."

"Hey, think about it this way, you helped me out with these," he said, tapping his temple to indicate his eyes, "so the least I can do is teach you a jutsu, and the Shadow Clones are the only one I know that you don't, so it'll have to do, right? And hey, have some faith in yourself, I know it's a high-level jutsu, but it doesn't take a lot of chakra to make the clones themselves, it's just dividing your chakra among them that's hard, and with your control, you should be able to get it in no time!"

And so began Naruto's first experience in teaching. Kurenai, who watched the two working for a while, eventually approached them. She told them several things about the Shadow Clones, some of which Naruto knew, some he didn't. For instance, she told them that the user of the jutsu gains the memories and experience of the clones, which makes them perfect for training, especially for Naruto with his huge reserves of chakra. She also cautioned Hinata not to make too many at once, since the user's chakra is divided by the jutsu, so Hinata, with her already shallow reserves, could be in serious danger if she divided her chakra among too many clones.

Nonetheless, the two friends trained together, Naruto demonstrating his jutsu from time to time so Hinata could see what he was doing, then her trying again and again. She wasn't using up very much chakra, since the failed clones returned a grand majority of the chakra they had in them to her when they dispelled, but she was still slowly getting drained.

About an hour later, a panting Hinata had the proudest grin anyone had ever seen her wearing. She had done it! She had created a single real, solid Shadow Clone! She was so drained she could barely keep walking, but she had done it! The only one who looked more pleased with her achievement than the shy girl herself was Naruto, who was wearing his trademark foxy grin. No one noticed, since his eyes were closed, that he had activated his Chigan. He had been doing that ever since their battle. He was scanning around to make sure if someone else showed up, he'd know it. Suddenly, he saw two chakra signatures nearby, between them and where Hinata's first real Shadow Clone was.

"Hinata, do you have enough chakra to do a Substitution?" he asked her quietly. She nodded a little; she did, if only just barely. "Substitute to your clone, leave it here, I'm going to do the same, I've got a plan." So saying, Naruto created a clone beside Hinata's and the two switched places with their clones. Sakura never noticed the change, and the two other ninja weren't about to mention it. Kurenai just gave the two clones a questioning look.

"We have two incoming chakra signatures," Hinata's clone said. After Naruto's comment, she'd seen them, too. "We're nearby, we'll observe until we're needed." Then, the clone, with her active Byakugan, saw a huge sword coming toward them from behind. "GET DOWN!" she yelled. Everyone did...except for the Naruto clone, whose head was severed by the blade. Luckily, it simply vanished in a puff of smoke after being hit, but the image of Naruto getting beheaded would haunt Hinata's nightmares for years to come nonetheless.

Kurenai, Sakura, Yamato, Tazuna, and Hinata's clone faced off with the man who appeared and landed on the sword once it embedded itself into a tree. He was tall, probably about six feet, broad-shouldered, heavily muscled, and shirtless. The man's face was covered in bandages that formed a mask; the part of his face which remained uncovered revealed the man had no eyebrows and black eyes. At the moment, his eyes were filled with the intent to kill, all of it aimed at Tazuna. It only took Yamato half a second to notice all of this and to recognize the man.

"Well, well, well," he said, his voice level, almost mocking. "What do we have here? Zabuza Momochi, Demon of the Hidden Mist, reduced to a hired thug, oh, this is rich!" Even though his voice never once changed from the seemingly jovial tone, it was clear he was mocking the man.

"Oh, I see, so I was in your Bingo Book, was I? An honor," Zabuza answered, his tone matching Yamato's almost exactly. "I don't recognize you, though, who are you?"

Yamato grinned. "I'd be worried if you did recognize me. I'm nobody important, don't worry," he said, his voice changing slightly, making it that much clearer he was mocking Zabuza now.

Zabuza's anger and Killing Intent now had two targets, Tazuna _and_ Yamato, though he didn't know the latter's name. Leaping off his sword, Zabuza yanked it from the tree on his way to the ground. Landing, he charged the small group. Hinata's clone and Sakura stood on either side of Tazuna, guarding him as best they could. Yamato created a wooden dome, effectively blocking Zabuza's first attack. The large man yanked his sword free from Yamato's wood before it could be ensnared.

However, that wasn't Yamato's intention to begin with, as Zabuza discovered when he found his legs trapped by woody vines that had grown around his feet. Yamato flashed through a large sequence of handsigns, then called out, "GIANT VORTEX JUTSU!" Zabuza, surprised that a Leaf shinobi would know a jutsu of his own style, was hit dead-on by the vortex Yamato's jutsu created and hurled into a tree. Yamato used the tree to bind the man there. Suddenly, two senbon needles flew from a nearby tree and struck the large man in the neck, seemingly killing him. Yamato looked at the tree, surprised by this new arrival.

During this rather short battle, Naruto and Hinata had been moving quickly to get into position; they had seen the other shinobi with Zabuza and knew this "tracker" wasn't a friend to them. Naruto had been asking a few questions during their trip about the Gentle Fist style and the Byakugan, which Hinata had been more than happy to answer. Naruto was frustrated with his lack of chakra control, but Hinata comforted him by telling him she would help him train to improve it. That earned the shy girl a true grin from the blond, which made her blush deeply and nearly lose her footing as she landed on a branch. After reassuring Naruto that she was fine, Hinata continued toward the battle. It was then that her clone dispelled, letting her know Zabuza had been "killed" by his partner. It also gave her some extra chakra, for which she was immensely grateful, along with the memory of seeing the Naruto clone's destruction, which she was far less pleased to see. Hinata let Naruto know about Zabuza's "death" and the two moved.

Just as the "tracker" landed beside Zabuza, he got a rather rude shock. To be more precise, he got a fist to his right cheek courtesy of Naruto and a simultaneous Gentle Fist strike on his left hip courtesy of Hinata. Surprised, hurt, and stumbling, the young boy moved closer to the shoreline. Naruto and Hinata followed. Yamato remained at a distance, waiting to see what would happen, but he did prepare himself to use his Wood Style if necessary. Naruto, glad for the distance and that his team was behind him, quietly activated his Chigan so he could use the Byakugan; something told him it would come in handy.

Hinata activated her Byakugan as well, and both of them glared at this phony tracker. "All right, who are you?" Naruto asked.

"My name is Haku, though I doubt that means much to you," came the response. Naruto growled. "I am, as you've obviously guessed, not a real tracker, and I am here to save my precious person."

Naruto glanced at Hinata briefly, though the eye movement was totally unnecessary. He could see her without doing it, seeing as he had the Byakugan active, after all. He did, however, understand the sentiment expressed by his opponent. Hinata noticed the movement of his eye, and, realizing he was thinking of her in that context, blushed deeply. Naruto didn't notice, due to his vision being of her chakra network at that moment. Then it happened. Haku made a series of handsigns faster than the eye could follow; at the same time, Yamato made his own set of signs. At the exact same moment, Haku cast his signature jutsu, Crystal Ice Mirrors, and Yamato cast a Wood Style jutsu. Naruto, seeing both at once because of his active Byakugan, discovered the hard way that the Chigan did have a bit of a weakness.

Naruto's Chigan, seeing two bloodlines at the same time, did what it was made to do: copied both. Naruto began to feel very very weird. He felt as if he was simultaneously made of wood and frozen solid. He endured the feeling as best he could; it wasn't painful, just extremely odd. However, for the duration, he couldn't move. Then, when the feelings passed, he discovered the real problem with doing that. The copying of two bloodlines at once had caused a drastic increase in the chakra consumption of his Chigan for the duration. His chakra reserves, in the course of a mere couple minutes, were drained so much so fast and his body so stressed that Naruto could only do one thing. And that one thing is exactly what he did: he fainted.

Haku sweat-dropped, having no idea what had just happened. He was just about to begin the fight with these two young shinobi, and suddenly one of them fell over unconscious for no apparent reason. He'd seen some weird things in his life, but even he didn't quite get that one. Shrugging, Haku stepped into one of his mirrors. Hinata, now trapped alone inside the dome of ice mirrors with an unconscious Naruto, glared at the boy. Haku knew of the Byakugan, of course, and he could tell hers was active. He felt confident, however, that this young girl would have nowhere near the speed necessary to stop his attacks. Haku began.

Hinata saw the attacks coming and began dodging with speed she didn't know she had. After a few moments, Haku realized that hitting Hinata wouldn't be likely given that she could always see the attacks, no matter where they originated. So he aimed a few attacks at Naruto, trying to distract the girl. Instead of his plan working, however, the result of this was that Naruto got surrounded by a dome of wood from Yamato, rendering Haku's attacks worthless against the unconscious blond.

The next thing Hinata knew, Haku seemed to be everywhere at once, throwing his needles from every mirror seemingly at the same time. Hinata, in her desperation, knew she only had one chance. She forced chakra from her chakra points all over her body; she had been shown this jutsu many times, but never once had she actually performed it. "ROTATION!" she said as she began to spin. Faster, faster, she spun. It worked! Every single needle was stopped by her spinning chakra. She slowed, her breathing heavy, her chakra spent. She'd used way too much on that move, and now, she knew, she would suffer from chakra exhaustion for days at least. Her Byakugan deactivated of its own accord. Haku threw one needle at the exhausted girl. It struck her in a pressure point on the back of her neck, knocking her unconscious. Within seconds, Haku's mirrors disappeared, and Haku and Zabuza were gone, leaving Kurenai, Yamato, Sakura, and Tazuna with their two unconscious comrades to transport the rest of the way to Tazuna's home. Yamato created two stretchers using his Wood Style, and the group continued to Tazuna's home in peace.

They arrived at the bridge-builder's home with no further incident, but upon arriving the conscious members of the group decided to have some fun. In spite of there being enough space and beds for everyone, the group, by unspoken consensus, placed Naruto and Hinata in the same bed. None of them could resist a chuckle when Hinata, in her sleep, clutched onto Naruto and cuddled up to him.


	5. The Return

Chapter 5

Naruto awoke slowly and yawned. It took him a moment, but suddenly he realized what had happened: he'd fallen unconscious in the middle of a battle. He tried to get up quickly, only to find that he couldn't move. He closed his eyes slowly. Reopening them, he had activated both his Chigan and the Byakugan that it contained. He had expected to find himself tied to whatever he was laying on and a captive. What he found, however, was that he was laying on a soft bed and was only a "captive" of one thing: Hinata's arms. Naruto blushed. Well, this was certainly awkward.

Naruto shook Hinata. "Hinata," he said softly. "Hinata, wake up." Hinata's breathing changed slightly and became less deep and rhythmic. She opened her eyes and looked up. She smiled at Naruto, a look of such happiness and peace on her face that all Naruto could do was smile back. Then he got a shock. Hinata lunged forward and kissed him. Though surprised, Naruto never once thought to push her away. In fact, he found the experience rather enjoyable, so he began to return it.

So it was that a certain pinkette came into the room and found Naruto and Hinata engaged in a lip-lock of epic proportions. Sakura dropped the canteen in her hand. It fell to the floor with a clang. Sakura was vaguely aware that the canteen's lid was sealed; she spared a thought to be grateful for that. Then, "NARUTO!" she yelled.

Hearing both the clang of the canteen and Sakura's yell, Hinata shot to her feet, looked at Sakura, looked at Naruto, looked at the canteen a moment (asking herself why even as she did so), looked at Sakura again, blushed, and fainted.

As she fell, Naruto, who had yet to move, caught her as best he could. The result of this, unfortunately for Naruto, was that Hinata fell in such a way that his face, which turned toward the falling girl as he tried to catch her, was buried in the valley of Hinata's cleavage. Naruto blushed, got a massive nosebleed, and fainted as well.

Sakura, who had been about to start yelling at Naruto for being a pervert, looked at what was before her, then looked around and found, to her surprise, that Kurenai, Tazuna, Tsunami—Tazuna's daughter—and Inari—Tsunami's son—had surrounded her between her dropping of the canteen and the present moment. Everyone was staring at the scene before them. Kurenai gave first, and soon everyone present who was awake was rolling on the floor laughing so hard they had tears falling from their eyes.

Naruto awoke first. He opened his eyes slowly and blinked, trying to clear his view. Unfortunately, what he thought was bright light turned out to be perfect, pale skin. Naruto slowly became aware that he was staring straight at Hinata's cleavage. Naruto blushed, then panicked for a moment, afraid Hinata would be mad at him. Then he remembered their kiss from earlier and relaxed. Naruto slowly realized he liked looking at Hinata's body. _"Ugh, I'm becoming a pervert!"_ he thought to himself. He thought about it a moment. _"Why don't I care?"_

Carefully, so as not to disturb the girl, who Naruto now realized was quite beautiful as she lay there sleeping, Naruto slowly slid out from under Hinata and laid her down on the bed to rest as he himself got up and made his way downstairs. Just before leaving the room, he stopped and looked at Hinata once more. He blushed as he took in Hinata's appearance; she was only wearing her night clothes, which were modest, but far less so than her shinobi outfit. His eyes were soft as he looked at her; she really was beautiful, he realized.

Naruto had a small smile on his face as he made his way downstairs. "What are you looking so smug about?" a voice broke Naruto from his pleasant musings.

Naruto looked at the source of the voice, Inari. "Me? Smug? Nah, I'm not smug, just pleased," Naruto said, still smiling slightly.

Inari had to chuckle. "Considering the position we left you in, I can't say I'm surprised," he said.

Naruto had the presence of mind to look sheepish, but his smile didn't diminish at all. Inari just chuckled again and left Naruto to his thoughts. Naruto made his way to the kitchen slowly, his mind returning to what had happened between him and Hinata that morning. Ever since he had copied her Byakugan, Naruto had felt bonded to Hinata somehow, and after this morning that bond seemed that much stronger.

Naruto had been sitting at the kitchen table a short while when Kurenai and Sakura joined him. Naruto noticed them, but he didn't feel like talking just then. As a result, silence reigned a while.

Sakura suddenly giggled. "Hey, Naruto, what in the world happened with you and Hinata?" she asked, her emerald eyes glinting with a playful light.

Naruto shrugged. "I woke up and found her wrapped around me...I shook her to wake her up so I could move, and...well, you saw what she did," he said.

Kurenai looked skeptical. "Hinata...kissed you?" she asked. Naruto nodded. "I would have thought she was too shy to do that."

Naruto looked at his sensei in shock. "What do you mean?" he asked her.

Kurenai gasped. "You mean you really don't know, Naruto?" Naruto looked confused. "Clearly not. What I mean is Hinata has had a crush on you ever since I've known her, which is a long time by the way, but I wouldn't have thought she would initiate anything like that, she's too shy."

Naruto looked at Sakura, his eyes questioning. Sakura nodded to confirm what Kurenai had said. "How long have you known, Sakura?" he asked slowly.

Sakura thought a moment. "I guess...about four years now," she said, her face chagrined.

Naruto let that sink in a moment. Sakura had known that someone cared about him...for four YEARS...and had never once thought to tell him. The sense of betrayal he got from that cut deep. "And you never thought to tell me?" he asked. Sakura blushed slightly, then shook her head. "Why the hell didn't you tell me, Sakura? You wanted me to stop asking you out, didn't you?" Sakura blushed again, then nodded. "And you didn't think that maybe, just maybe, if you told me someone actually _wanted_ to spend time with me, I would spend time with her rather than pestering you?"

Sakura looked at him. "I guess I just figured it was Hinata's secret to tell, not mine. I figured if it was really important to her, she'd tell you in her own good time," she said, her eyes full of regret as she realized some part of Naruto's and Hinata's pain at being so alone all those years was her doing.

Naruto took a deep, calming breath. "All right, Sakura, I can't really blame you for that," he said. "I wouldn't want you telling everyone my secrets, either." He looked up into Sakura's eyes, his own full of pain and regret now. "I just hope Hinata will forgive me." With that, he rose from the table and began to make his way back upstairs. He had to talk to Hinata.

As Naruto was re-entering the room where he had left Hinata, he got treated to a sight he knew in that moment he would never forget. Hinata, who had awakened a short time after Naruto left, had gotten up and was changing her clothes. At the moment Naruto was re-entering the room, Hinata was stark naked and in the process of turning toward the door.

The result of this was Naruto got a perfect, unobstructed view of Hinata's entire front. He gasped and froze. Hinata looked up when she heard him gasp. She repeated his motion, also dropping the clean pair of undergarments she had been holding and preparing to put on. Naruto's nose spurted blood and he fainted. Hinata barely managed to catch him before he fell and pulled him into the room and shut the door.

Hinata laid Naruto on the bed and quickly dressed, her face feeling like it was aflame the entire time. Once she was clothed, Hinata sat on the edge of the bed to wait for Naruto to awaken again. It took a few minutes, but soon enough the blond came to and sat up, and the two preteens locked their eyes to one another and froze for the second time at the sight of one another in less than an hour.

Surprisingly, Hinata was the first to recover. "N-Naruto," she said. Naruto snapped out of his frozen state at her voice and smiled hesitantly at her. "Are you all right?"

Naruto's smile faltered. "I'm okay. Just a bit confused," he said.

Hinata raised an eyebrow at him, her head cocked to the side a bit. "What are you confused about, Naruto?" she asked.

Naruto took a deep breath. This was why he had come up here to talk to her, but it was still not something he was looking forward to actually talking about with her. "Well, first off, when I tried to wake you up this morning, you...well, you kissed me," he said, figuring he'd just tell her straight up.

Hinata gasped. "That...was real?" she asked, her voice soft and high-pitched. Naruto nodded. Hinata blushed, then her panic took over. "I'm so so so so sorry, Naruto, please don't hate me, I shouldn't have done that, I'm such a fool," Hinata said, her voice starting out panicked and degrading into babbling after the first comment.

Naruto looked surprised. "What do you mean? Do you regret doing that, Hinata?" he asked her, his voice soft, seemingly afraid.

Hinata looked up in surprise at the sound of his voice. "Well...no, not really," she said. "I-I just don't w-want you t-to h-h-hate m-me." She looked up at Naruto, her eyes fearful, tears threatening to fall from her eyes as she thought about her love hating her.

Naruto looked surprised. "I would never hate you, Hinata," he said. Hinata looked at Naruto, her eyes showing both fear and hope, and she slid closer to him hesitantly. Naruto smiled softly. "Actually, that was probably the best wake-up call I've ever had, and I wouldn't mind having that happen again." He blushed.

Hinata blushed deeply at that, then, a sudden burst of courage coming from his words, Hinata leaned in and kissed Naruto again. Naruto was still a little off-balance, but he wasn't going to say no to _that_. He returned her kiss willingly.

"NARUTO!" a voice yelled suddenly, making Naruto and Hinata jump away from one another. They both turned to look and found themselves being glared at by Sakura. Hinata blushed, and Naruto just glared back. Sakura, surprisingly, got the message and simply picked up the canteen she'd come to retrieve and left.

Naruto smiled at Hinata; said girl opened her mouth to apologize, but Naruto didn't give her the chance. "It's fine, Hinata. Sakura told me...that you've had a crush on me for a long time," he said, blushing again.

Hinata blushed even redder than Naruto. "Yes, N-Naruto, I h-have l-l-liked you f-for a l-long t-time. Ever s-s-since y-you s-saved m-me f-from those b-bullies b-back when w-we were in the Academy," she said.

Naruto took a deep breath and collected his thoughts. "Hinata...can you ever forgive me?" he asked her.

Hinata looked at him in surprise. "Forgive you? For what? You haven't done anything wrong, Naruto," she said firmly.

Naruto smiled at her kind response, but then he sighed. "For not noticing you sooner, for leaving you alone all these years, for ignoring you. Hell, I did the same thing to you Sakura has always done to me," he said.

"No, Naruto," Hinata said. "Sakura has willingly rejected you. You just didn't know how I felt. That's my fault, not yours. Besides, watching you has helped me get stronger, and now you're even training with me and helping me learn new things, so you're making me stronger that way, too. So really, Naruto, there's nothing to forgive."

As she said this, Hinata moved closer to Naruto until she was almost sitting in his lap. Naruto smiled and pulled her into his arms. It wasn't a gesture of love, merely one of comfort for both of them. For the first time in a long long time, neither of them felt alone. Naruto felt more at peace in that moment than he ever had, and Hinata felt stronger and more protected than she had since her mother died.

A knock sounded on the door, and Naruto and Hinata slid apart. "Come in," Naruto said. The door opened, and Kurenai, Yamato, and Sakura came into the room. All three noticed that Hinata and Naruto were blushing, but no one said anything about it. "What's up?" Naruto asked.

Yamato was the first to answer. "First off, Naruto, you and I need to have a chat here in the next few days," he said. Naruto, noticing the look on the ANBU captain's face, simply nodded.

"Beyond that," Kurenai began, "the five of us need to be ready to face Zabuza and his apprentice when they come back, which I suspect will be in about a week."

Naruto grinned. "We'll be ready," he said. Kurenai looked surprised. "Well, Hinata knows tree-climbing and water-walking, so she can teach me those, you can teach Sakura some genjutsu, and Yamato can help me with a few other things."

Kurenai thought about that, turned a questioning look at Yamato, who nodded, then smiled at Naruto. "That's actually a good plan, Naruto," she said. "I'm impressed. All right, team, get some rest for tonight, we've got a hard week of training ahead of us."

Sakura, Kurenai, and Hinata made their way upstairs. Yamato looked at Naruto curiously. "Something I can do for you, Naruto?" he asked.

Naruto gave him a look of consternation. "I just woke up, they're all going to rest, and you said you wanted to talk, so this is probably the best time. What's up?" he asked.

Yamato smiled. "Good, Naruto, I see you realized I wanted to talk to you alone. It's about your eyes," he said.

Naruto gasped, then took a deep breath. "My eyes? They're as normal as yours, Captain Yamato," he said. Yamato smiled at the title, but he gave Naruto a glare. Naruto cringed; that look was horrifying. "All right, all right. I know what you mean. What about it?"

Yamato chuckled. "Well, the next week is going to be spent with me teaching you Earth Style, Water Style, Wood Style, and whatever your natural affinity is. Also, I suspect you now have Ice Style from that fake tracker, so you should try to master that at least some as well. Before you come find me in the morning, have Kurenai test you, Hinata, and Sakura for your elemental affinities. If any or all of you have either Water Style or Earth Style as your natural affinity, I can train you in that, either now or later. I'm guessing no one knows about your eyes yet?"

Naruto chuckled. "As you guessed, I copied Hinata's Byakugan, so she knows. But other than her, no, no one knows yet," he said back.

Yamato smiled. "All right. I won't push you, but I suggest you tell your team, and I'll have to report this to the Hokage when we return to the village. Now, go get yourself some rest. Trust me, you're gonna need it," he said, his smile gaining a dark aspect. Naruto shivered, then ran upstairs to get his rest. He wasn't tired, but he knew he'd regret it if he didn't.

xxxxxx

Naruto awoke slowly, surprised to feel a weight on his chest. He opened his eyes and looked down. Naruto gasped, then blushed, wondering briefly if he was still dreaming. The weight on his chest was Hinata's head. Naruto pinched himself. Nothing changed.

Like he had the day before, Naruto gently shook Hinata. "Hey, Hinata, wake up," he said. Hinata opened her eyes and looked around, blinking owlishly. Naruto chuckled. "Do you have to make everything you do look adorable, Hinata?"

Hinata, suddenly realizing where she was, blushed heavily. Then she panicked. "Oh, no, I'm so sorry, Naruto!" she said, starting to stand up.

Naruto stood up with her and rested a hand on her shoulder. Hinata froze. "It's fine, Hinata, I'm not upset, I was just a little surprised to find you with me again," he said. Hinata smiled, still blushing. Naruto chuckled, then leaned in and kissed Hinata quickly. Hinata blushed even deeper. Naruto chuckled again. "Like I said, you really do make everything adorable, don't you, Hinata?"

Hinata's blush became so red Naruto almost worried she had broken an artery or something. Then she shook her head to clear it and smiled at Naruto. "I do m-my best," she said. As she spoke, Naruto was getting dressed for the day; he had hidden himself from Hinata's view, luckily for her.

Stepping out, dressed, Naruto grinned. "Better get ready for the day. I'll see you at breakfast, Hinata," he said, chuckling. Hinata nodded, and the two separated; Hinata headed to the girls' room while Naruto went downstairs for breakfast.

xxxxxx

Once breakfast was eaten, Naruto, Hinata, Sakura, Kurenai, and Yamato met in a small clearing near Tazuna's home. "Kurenai, if you would," Yamato said. Kurenai nodded and handed out small slips of paper to the Genin. "Now, all of you, channel some chakra into the slips of paper in your hands, and we'll see what your natural chakra affinities are."

Sakura went first. Her paper turned to dust and crumbled away. Yamato nodded; as he'd guessed, Sakura had an affinity for Earth Style. Yamato gestured to Hinata. She channeled her chakra, and, surprising no one, her paper became soggy, meaning her affinity was for Water Style. Then everyone turned to Naruto. Naruto took a breath and channeled his chakra.

The result surprised everyone but Yamato and Naruto himself. Naruto's paper split in two, then one side turned to dust while the other side became soggy. "All right, I kind of expected this," Yamato said. "Hinata, Naruto, you two are coming with me, I have much to teach you both. Sakura, I expect Kurenai can teach you far more than I can right now. See you two tonight."

Once Kurenai and Sakura were alone, the red-eyed woman turned to her pink-haired student. "All right, Sakura. Let's get started. If you're going to learn genjutsu, you have to have perfect chakra control. First, let's see if you can climb a tree with just your chakra." And so Sakura's training began.

Meanwhile, Hinata and Naruto were being confronted by a grinning Yamato. "All right, you two. Hinata, I hear you know water-walking already, yes?" Hinata nodded. "All right. Demonstrate please."

Naruto quietly activated his Chigan and Byakugan to watch what Hinata was doing. Yamato formed a handsign and created a small pool of water in the middle of the clearing. Hinata walked onto the pool and stood on the water. Naruto watched closely what she was doing.

Yamato grinned. "All right, Naruto, you see what she's doing. Join her," he said, his grin becoming somehow ominous. Naruto, having watched what Hinata was doing closely, emulated it and soon found himself standing beside her on the water. "Good, you two," Yamato said. "Now, let's see you deal with this." With that, Yamato began forming wood kunai and shuriken and throwing them at the two. Naruto and Hinata would spend the next four days doing this.

That evening, Naruto and Yamato stayed out after Hinata, Sakura, and Kurenai had gone back to Tazuna's home. Yamato trained Naruto in Wood Style and told him what the fake tracker had done with Ice Style. Naruto trained in that with Yamato supervising as well. The team fell into a routine for the next few days of training and spending their evenings together.

Naruto had become used to waking up to Hinata laying on him; it had happened six days running, after all. Somehow or another, no one else had yet to notice that Hinata was leaving the girls' room at night and going to Naruto. Yamato may have, but he hadn't said anything, and the others seemed completely oblivious. Naruto thought about saying something the first couple days, but after that he just decided to go along with it and enjoy it; after all, he could think of a lot of worse things to wake up to than Hinata.

Soon enough, the day came when Yamato and Kurenai believed Zabuza and his apprentice would reappear. Kurenai stayed behind at Tazuna's home to guard his family, while Yamato took the three Genin to the bridge to guard him.

Sure enough, the team arrived at the bridge to find most of Tazuna's workers either dead or wounded and Zabuza and his apprentice standing in the middle of the bridge. "So, you've returned," Yamato said. "Just as I expected." His voice was mocking Zabuza again. "Naruto, you know what to do."

Naruto nodded and stepped forward. Hinata, meanwhile, leapt forward with several Gentle Fist strikes and dispelled the Water Clones Zabuza had sent to surround the team. Naruto just shook his head and approached the apprentice.

"Well, Haku, it looks like he's challenging you," Zabuza said. Haku nodded, and Naruto and Haku squared off.

Haku grinned behind his mask. "You may have seen this before, but there's nothing you can do about it," he said. He formed a few hand signs and said, in his soft voice, "Crystal Ice Mirrors."

Naruto chuckled as Haku stepped into one of the mirrors. "I can't do anything about it, huh?" He stepped forward and into the mirror with Haku. Haku gasped. Naruto chuckled again. "I can do this." He reached out and grabbed Haku's arm, pulled Haku forward, and slammed his other fist into Haku's face. Haku flew out of the mirror, unconscious by the time he hit the ground.

Zabuza got a shock a moment later when Haku's Crystal Ice Mirrors appeared around him with the young blond in them. Zabuza noticed the boy's eyes looked different, but he didn't question it. Instead, he prepared to face his end with dignity. Naruto moved, punching and kicking at Zabuza so quickly the swordsman couldn't keep up.

Naruto landed a final blow on the large man, knocking him out cold as well. Just then, a short man appeared on the end of the bridge, along with a large group of hired thugs. Naruto turned the Ice Style jutsu on them and soon everyone was either dead, unconscious, or off the bridge. Gato in particular was dead. Naruto returned to his team. Only Sakura looked really shocked. "I'll explain later," Naruto said. "For now, Captain Yamato, let's get this bridge finished so we can go home."

Two Days Later

Naruto grinned as he looked up at the walls of the Hidden Leaf Village. "Finally, we're home," he said. The rest of the team nodded in agreement; it was good to be home.

The team made their way to the Hokage's office, but all five of them froze just outside the door to said office when they heard a voice coming from within.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Sarutobi? Letting my godson live his life alone is simply NOT acceptable!" the voice, obviously that of a woman, and an angry one at that, said.

"Indeed, Sarutobi-sensei, you have much to answer for," a second voice, this one that of an older man, added.

Naruto and the rest of his team looked at one another. They were all thinking the same thing. _"What have we gotten ourselves into?"_

A/N: Yeah, I know, I skimped out on detail in this chapter. To be totally honest, I am sick of writing the Wave Arc, so I wanted them out of there and NOW. So yeah, I know the detail was skimped, and I hope you can forgive that. Next chapter will be the start of the Chunin Arc, and will be much better for details.


	6. Sannin Training

A/N: Please notice, I have edited the ending of chapter 5 slightly. The edit is small, but VERY significant, so please make note of it.

Chapter 6

Hiruzen Sarutobi was not having a good day. Early this morning, his office door had been broken down, so to speak, by two very angry people. The male of the two had long white spiky hair, wore a red robe and a headband with the kanji for oil on it, and could easily summon a toad larger than the Hokage tower if he wanted. The female of the two was a blond, had a blue diamond in the middle of her forehead, and could easily summon a slug who could crush half of the village. Granted Hiruzen himself could summon a monkey, he still didn't want to try to fight these two, especially not when they were pissed, and _especially_ not together.

The two were in the middle of yelling at the aging Hokage when he heard something. The door to his office was opening. _"Oh thank God," _he thought to himself. As the door opened, in walked Kurenai, Naruto, Hinata, Sakura, and Yamato. At that precise moment, decorum or no, Hiruzen could have kissed any and all of them. He turned a glare onto the two people who had been yelling at him and indicated the ones who were entering the room. Both people shut up.

Naruto looked at the two people in the room, noticing the long white hair on the man and the diamond on the woman's forehead. He thought they looked familiar, but he couldn't quite place them.

"N-Naruto?" the woman spoke. Naruto nodded, a look of curiosity on his face. "Oh, wow, you've really grown." Naruto chuckled and gave a grin to her, not sure what to say. Then he got a shock when both people who had been berating Hiruzen suddenly grabbed him and hugged him between them. Between Tsunade's massive...assets and the overpowering strength of both people, the young boy was having serious issues breathing. Just when he was about to pass out, he got help from a very unexpected source.

"Please, let Naruto go, he can't breathe!" Hinata said. The two people in question looked at the blond, who was quite blue by then, and backed away, grinning sheepishly.

Naruto gasped for breath on the floor for a moment, then looked up at the two people in front of him. "All right, you two look insanely familiar to me, but who are you? And why are you here?"

"Who are we?" the white-haired man asked incredulously. "Who are we, he asks, who are we, like we're just two random people who just showed up out of the blue in the Hokage's office when he decided he needed to talk to the old man about Kami knows what!" Naruto sweat-dropped. "Well, you asked, and I'll tell you. I am the hermit of Mount Myoboku, the wise and immortal spirit! That's right, it is I, the Toad Mountain Sage!" the white-haired man yelled out, striking a pose that he probably thought was gallant. Naruto just thought it was ridiculous.

"Oh, hi, Jiraiya," Naruto said blithely. Jiraiya promptly face-faulted at the total lack of reaction brought about by his introduction. Naruto then turned to the female of the two. "Now, who are you?"

"Me? Oh, I'm Tsunade," she answered. "And more importantly, and what the old pervert over there isn't telling you, we're your godparents, Naruto."

Now, _that_ got a reaction out of Naruto. "My...godparents?" he said. They both nodded. "So, you two are my...family?" They nodded again. Naruto fainted. "I have...family..." he muttered in his sleep.

Everyone chuckled at Naruto's reaction; the tension that had filled the room before Team Eight had come in was now gone. "All right, Hinata, Sakura, Kurenai, everything you hear in this room is to be considered an S-class secret, only those in the room, including Naruto, are allowed to know of this; I'll tell him the same when he wakes up. Is that clear?" Hiruzen said to the conscious members of Team Eight.

"Yes, Lord Hokage," the three kunoichi chorused.

"All right, as you may have guessed, these two here before me are my old students, Jiraiya and Tsunade of the Sannin. As they just said, they're also Naruto's godparents. Kurenai, knowing that, I'm sure you know who his parents are," Sarutobi said.

Kurenai looked stunned. "Minato...and Kushina? Naruto...is their son?" she said, her voice quiet.

Hiruzen nodded. "Yes, indeed. Sakura, Hinata, if you didn't guess, Minato is Minato Namikaze, our own Fourth Hokage, and he is in fact Naruto's father."

At this point, surprising everyone, Yamato spoke up. "I believe Naruto already knows who his father was, Lord Hokage," he said. "Though I don't think he has any knowledge of his mother."

"What makes you say that, Yamato?"

"I think this would be the prime time for all of us to report on this mission, don't you agree, Lord Hokage?" Yamato asked, seemingly changing the subject. Hiruzen, however, knew his agent well enough to know he was saying the answer to his question lay within his report. The aging Hokage simply nodded.

Yamato proceeded to tell the Hokage of the team's encounter with the Demon Brothers, Naruto using his Chigan, the copying of Wood and Ice Styles, the training he and Kurenai had done with the team, and the second battle with Zabuza and Haku. "After the battle, the two rogues slipped away quietly, saying that they would see us again some day," he finished. By this time, Naruto was awake; he had heard Yamato's report from the first battle with Zabuza on.

"Sorry I didn't tell you guys sooner," he said. Kurenai, Hinata, and Sakura waved him off, saying it wasn't a big deal and that they understood.

"So, Naruto, is Yamato's guess that you know who your father was correct?" Sarutobi asked. Naruto looked surprised, then nodded. "And your mother, do you know who she was?" Naruto shook his head no at that. "Her name was Kushina Uzumaki; she was also known as the Bloody Red Habanero. You were given her last name to protect you from your father's enemies, who, as you can guess, were many." Naruto nodded, a small smile on his face at finally knowing his mother's name.

Yamato spoke again then. "I can tell you stories of both your parents any time you want, Naruto," he said. Naruto smiled and nodded gratefully to the man.

"Naruto, anything you've heard here and everything Yamato tells you about your parents is an S-rank secret. Only those in this room right now are allowed to know of them, am I clear?" Naruto gulped and nodded; he could tell the Hokage was serious and wouldn't take being defied lightly at that moment. "Good. Is there anything else any of you need to report?" the old man asked then. Getting five negatives from Team Eight and Yamato, Hiruzen dismissed Team Eight. Surprisingly, no one moved. "Yes?"

Naruto spoke up. "I think they're all curious about Jiraiya and Tsunade. I am as well. I know you two said you were my godparents, but, if that's the case, why haven't you been here all along, and why are you here now?"

Jiraiya sighed. He wasn't expecting his godson to be so mature. "Well, Naruto," he began. "As for why we haven't been here all along, we were told you died. An ANBU told me, I'm not sure why, but I'm guessing the same thing happened to Tsunade here." Tsunade nodded to confirm his suspicion. "And when we found out a week ago you were in fact alive, we both immediately headed here. We arrived here just this morning and were...having a discussion with Sarutobi-sensei here about your...accommodations up to this point."

Naruto chuckled. "You were tearing him a new asshole for not taking care of me to your standards, you mean?" he asked ruefully. Jiraiya and Tsunade looked appropriately sheepish, but both nodded. "Well, thanks, but he's the only one who even bothered to try to help me, so don't be mad at him. Now that you're here, though, what happens now?"

Jiraiya looked at Kurenai. "If it's all right with you, Kurenai, I'd like to take Naruto as my apprentice. He'd still meet and train with you and the team, of course," he said, adding the last when Kurenai looked hesitant.

"It would be an honor, Lord Jiraiya," she said.

Naruto just nodded his consent. "One condition, though," he said. Both his godparents looked suspicious. "Tsunade, if Jiraiya is going to train me, I want you to train Hinata and Sakura. They both have the chakra control and determination it takes to be medical ninja."

Tsunade chuckled. "I was going to suggest that very thing, actually," she said.

Hiruzen laughed at this. "Well, now that that's settled," he said. "Actually, Tsunade, I was going to suggest you set up a medical course in the Academy as well."

Tsunade smiled. "Finally decided to take my advice, eh, Sarutobi-sensei?" she asked. The aging Hokage nodded. "All right, I can do that. Now, let's get out of this stuffy office and get to work, shall we?" Team Eight and Jiraiya all agreed, and the six of them vanished.

"It's about time those two came back," Yamato commented. Hiruzen silently agreed.

xxxxxx

Naruto grinned at Jiraiya when the two reappeared in a training field. "What are you going to teach me first?" he asked, eager to get started. Jiraiya smiled at his godson. "What?"

Jiraiya chuckled. "Just you sound just like your father did when he was your age. Always eager to learn new things," he explained. Naruto smiled at the praise. "Well, to answer your question, the first thing I'm going to do is have you sign this." Here, the old man spread out a scroll. Naruto looked and saw the signature of Minato Namikaze, then Jiraiya's own, then a blank spot. "This is your clan's summoning contract. Sign it in your blood, then put your fingerprints in your blood as the others who have signed it have done." Naruto did as he was instructed. Jiraiya then showed him the hand signs for the Summoning Jutsu.

Meanwhile, Sakura, Hinata, Kurenai, and Tsunade reappeared together in a different training field. "All right," Tsunade began, then noticed Kurenai was there, too. "Kurenai? Why are you here?"

Kurenai grinned. "I'd like to join in your training, if that's all right, Lady Tsunade," she said.

Tsunade grinned back. "Well, I don't mind, but you three better all be prepared to put your lives on the line for this," she said. All three nodded. Tsunade gave an evil grin. "Good, first let's go over one basic thing. A medical ninja must focus on one thing in battle, any of you know what that is?"

No one spoke for a moment, then Hinata, after thinking a moment, said, "Dodging."

Tsunade smiled brightly at her. "Exactly, Hinata, dodging," she said. "So, you three are going to have to dodge like your lives depended on it." That said, she reached down and grabbed the earth. Yanking her arm up, she held a boulder approximately half the size of one of the heads on the Hokage Monument. "Training begins now!" she said, and threw the huge rock.

Yamato sweat-dropped. "If she calls that training, I'd hate to see what she's like in a real battle," he said to himself. Then he moved quickly through the trees and found Naruto and Jiraiya training. As he watched, he saw Naruto summon a tadpole. He sweat-dropped at that, too. "A tadpole? Really, Naruto?" He watched the two Sannin training their new apprentices, alternating between one and the other every few minutes.

xxxxxx

Naruto sighed as he flopped down onto his bed. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been this exhausted. He'd worked all day long, and he'd _finally_ mastered the Summoning Jutsu. Jiraiya had given him a few pointers, which had helped, and just before sunset, he'd finally done it. Then the freaking boss toad, Gamabunta, had decided to test him! Here he'd spent all day trying to master this thing and using most of his chakra up in the process, just for the summon to test him! Oh, well, he'd passed the stupid test, and now he had the respect of the toad boss, who had agreed to work with him.

Naruto smiled up at his ceiling, thinking of his team, their past mission, and wondering what the future might hold. His eyes slowly drifted closed, and he fell into a deep sleep.

Unbeknownst to Naruto, Hinata was doing much the same thing; she'd spent all day dodging rocks and explosions from Tsunade along with Sakura and Kurenai. The three of them were all banged up a good bit from the training, so naturally all three were exhausted, but they all felt very satisfied with the results of their first day. Hinata sighed as her stiff muscles finally relaxed as she lay in bed, and, moments later, she was asleep.

xxxxxx

Jiraiya and Tsunade stood before the Third Hokage. "So, how did your first day go?" the old man asked.

"I'm impressed with Naruto; he learned the Summoning Jutsu in one day, and if he keeps going like that, it won't be long before I can teach him the Rasengan as well," Jiraiya said. Hiruzen smiled and nodded at that.

Tsunade chuckled. "He really is a mini-Minato, isn't he?" Jiraiya nodded. "Well, I was impressed, too. Kurenai is quite good for a rookie Jonin, and the other two were surprisingly quick for Genin. I'll have all three of them learning medical ninjutsu within the month."

"Good, good," Sarutobi commented. "I'm glad you two are taking to this so well. Once you're done with them, Tsunade, I expect your students will be able to help you teach at the Academy, if they so choose. And Jiraiya, if you can just get Naruto to focus enough to learn Rasengan, I suspect he'll make one hell of a Jonin-sensei himself one day."

Jiraiya smiled. "I suspect he'll go further than that, Sarutobi-sensei," he said. "I suspect if he really wants to, he'll steal that hat right off your head."

Sarutobi chuckled. "If he really wants it when he finds out everything it comes with," here the man gestured at his paperwork-covered desk, "he can _have_ it!"

Everyone in the room laughed at that. They all knew that the real bane of every Kage ever was the cursed paperwork required to run a village. As the three were laughing, Yamato appeared in the office in a puff of smoke. He smiled at his three superiors' laughter, then cleared his throat to gain their attention.

"Oh, Yamato, what can we do for you?" Sarutobi asked.

"Thank you, Lord Hokage," Yamato replied. "I was merely intending to ask how long your two students intend to train Team Eight."

"Probably three months, when they're not in team meetings and such," Jiraiya said. Tsunade nodded; her time would likely be about the same. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, Naruto will need my help truly mastering Water, Earth, and Wood Style, and I can train Hinata in Water Style as well. Plus, I would recommend having Asuma train Naruto in his Wind Style eventually, as that is his natural affinity. And if you intend to teach him the Rasengan, Lord Jiraiya, perhaps he will be the one to finally complete it."

Jiraiya smiled at that thought. "Yeah, maybe. That kid has a lot of expectations to live up to, doesn't he?" he mused. Everyone nodded. "I really hope he's up to it." Then he turned and grinned at the others in the room. "Then again, he won't exactly be alone, will he? He'll have all of us to back him up every step of his way to the Hokage's hat!" Everyone nodded again, smiling. "Good. Now, let's get out of here and get some rest, we all have busy days tomorrow." With that, everyone departed the Hokage's office and made their respective ways home and to bed. Each one fell into bed and sleep with smiles on their faces as they pondered the bright future that lay ahead for them and their village under the leadership of Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, Hinata Hyuga, and Sakura Haruno.


	7. Lessons on Life

Chapter 7

Naruto awoke slowly. He sighed; he'd gotten so used to waking up to Hinata laying on him during the mission to Wave, he found that now he actually missed it. Then he smiled; at least he'd get to see her today during training. He thought a moment. "Maybe I'll ask her if she'd like to hang out after training today, too," he said to himself.

At that precise moment, unbeknownst to Naruto, Hinata awoke to a powerful sneeze. Looking around in surprise, Hinata found herself alone and had a reaction similar to Naruto's; she'd been half-expecting to wake up laying on Naruto's chest again. Sighing, Hinata got up and dressed quickly. As she dressed, she remembered that she'd be seeing Naruto very soon; the result being that while she dressed and as she stepped out of her room, she was humming. Making her way to the dining room, she was shocked to find her father, sister, and cousin all sitting at the table. "G-Good morning, everyone," she said quietly.

"Good morning, Hinata," her father answered. Hinata bowed to him, then sat between her sister and her father. "You returned late last night from your mission. How did it go?"

Hinata smiled. "It was a complete success, Father," she answered. Hiashi gestured for her to continue. As the four ate, Hinata told her father what had happened on the mission, leaving out the part about her getting hurt and the parts about Naruto's Chigan. Hiashi seemed particularly impressed as she told of defeating Zabuza's Water Clones. "We returned to the village yesterday morning," she finished.

Hiashi looked at her, his eyes suspicious. "If you returned to the village yesterday morning, why did you not return home until late last night?" he asked. Hinata told him of meeting Jiraiya and Tsunade in the Hokage's office upon returning, leaving out most of their discussion, only mentioning that Tsunade would be starting a medical program at the Academy in the future and that the two Sannin were training her and her team. Hiashi pondered this for a few moments. "So, you went on a mission that started as a C-rank but was upgraded to an A-rank due to extenuating circumstances, still completed the mission, and, upon returning to the village, became one of three apprentices to the Lady Tsunade?" he said. Hinata, a small smile on her face, nodded. "You bring honor to your clan, Hinata. I'm proud of you."

Hinata gasped. "You're...proud of me, Father?" she asked. Hiashi nodded. Hinata lowered her eyes and blinked back tears. "Thank you, Father. Thank you so much." Hiashi looked at Hinata, his confusion at her statement obvious on his face. "Father, you finally acknowledged me. That has been my desire for years, and you have finally done it, so thank you." That said, Hinata rose, bowed to her family, then, saying, "I must go, I have training to get to," she departed quickly so her family wouldn't see the happy tears she could no longer contain.

Hiashi turned to Neji, then Hanabi. His usually stoic face showed concern. "Have I truly been so harsh on her?" he asked them. Neither wanted to anger the Clan Head, but neither could deny that he _had_ been that harsh, either, so both nodded. Hiashi closed his eyes. _"My daughter, forgive me. It seems I need to reevaluate my parenting methods,"_ he thought to himself. Sighing, he returned his attention to what remained of his breakfast.

Hinata arrived at the training ground and found it deserted. She checked the time; she was a little early. Sitting down against one of the training posts, she waited. The entire time, there was a smile on her face. _"Father said he was proud of me!"_ she kept thinking over and over. Closing her eyes to rest while she waited for her team to arrive, Hinata fell into a light sleep.

Hinata had only been asleep a few minutes when Kurenai, Tsunade, and Sakura arrived. Chuckling slightly, Kurenai reached down and shook the girl awake. Gasping slightly, Hinata opened her eyes, then smiled up at her teammate and senseis. Rising, she dusted herself off. Tsunade smiled at her three apprentices. "Ready, you three?" she asked. Everyone nodded, and another day of training began.

xxxxxx

Naruto, arriving where he'd been told to meet Jiraiya that day, smiled at the idyllic spot. It was a small clearing in the woods, a small stream running through it and sunlight speckling the ground as it filtered through the trees. He'd only been there a few moments when Jiraiya appeared, seemingly from nowhere. Naruto chuckled. _"I guess that's why they made him spy-master,"_ he thought to himself. Giving Jiraiya a small smile, he commented, "So, what's on the menu today, oh wise and immortal sage?" The last part was said sarcastically, causing Jiraiya to give Naruto an annoyed look.

"Well, this," Jiraiya said, pulling out a small slip of paper. Naruto looked at it in confusion. Jiraiya held up his own slip, which looked identical to the first. "Channel your chakra into it, and..." his voice trailed off as his own slip crumbled into dust. He handed the remaining slip to Naruto. "It detects your natural affinity. For fire it will burn, water get soggy, earth crumble like mine, lightning crinkle, and wind split in half."

Naruto looked skeptical. "This will really advance my training?" he asked. Jiraiya nodded solemnly, so the teen would know he wasn't kidding around. Naruto sighed, then channeled his chakra. Surprising Jiraiya slightly, the paper split in half. Naruto looked disappointed. "So I'm wind? That sucks!"

Jiraiya looked at Naruto skeptically. "Did you just say being wind sucks?" he said, sure he'd heard wrong. Naruto looked at him in confusion, then nodded. "Oh, ho, then allow the wise and powerful sage to enlighten you to the awesomeness that is Wind Style ninjutsu!" Naruto looked...cautiously optimistic, for lack of a better term. "Okay, imagine there's a wall of earth in front of you and you need to either get through it, over it, or under it, all right?" Naruto nodded, his face serious. "Okay, with Wind Style, you could literally do any one of those."

Naruto held up a hand and looked to be thinking for a moment. "All right, so let me get this straight," he began after a minute or so. "If I master Wind Style, I could somehow either fly over or tunnel through or under a wall, is that what you're telling me?" Jiraiya grinned and nodded, pleased his apprentice had caught onto the concept so quickly. Naruto now looked skeptical again. "How?"

Jiraiya sighed. _"Can't really expect him to get everything all at once, can I?"_ he thought to himself. To the blond, he said, "Okay, for the tunneling part, you know your former classmate Kiba can tunnel through almost anything by spinning really fast and hitting it, right?" Naruto nodded; he had heard that. "Okay, he does that using his claws and momentum. Now, wind is sharper than any metal, and, what's more, it will never wear out." Naruto looked happy about that. "So that's how you can use it to tunnel, basically make it into a sharp form and spin it, and boom, you're through. As for flying, basically concentrate the wind below you and make it push you upward. If the wind is strong enough, you'll find yourself flying. Just that easy."

Naruto gave an impish grin at that. "So really what you're saying is that wind is about the best type I could ever be?" he asked. Jiraiya nodded, a grin of his own firmly affixed to his face. Naruto gave Jiraiya a serious look. "And how much can you really teach me about Wind Style?"

Jiraiya grinned wider. "Good, Naruto, good. You caught that I'm not naturally wind myself. It's true that I may not know the tricks for wind, but I do know the tests for it, and I know who you can ask about the tricks. Plus, I'm about the only one with the free time to teach you, so you're pretty much stuck with me," he said.

Naruto sighed. "I wish I'd asked Haku about Wind Style when I had the chance...oh, well," he said. Turning a grin to the white-haired man, Naruto asked, "All right, so who can I ask about Wind Style?"

"Asuma Sarutobi," the Toad Sage told his apprentice. With a grin, Naruto formed a Shadow Clone and sent it on its way.

"All right," the blond said. "What else are we doing today?"

xxxxxx

Hinata sighed as the four kunoichi stopped their morning training; it had been a rough morning, full of bumps and bruises for her, Sakura, and Kurenai. Painful or not, though, it had been a very rewarding morning. Tsunade had said she believed all three of her students would be able to learn not only medical ninjutsu but her signature strength technique as well.

Kurenai shot a sympathetic look to both Hinata and Sakura. "And just think," she said, "we still have team training and missions to do today." Sakura and Hinata both gained looks of terror. "Don't worry, I'm not going to make you guys train very hard today after this, and we'll only do a couple D-ranks and call it good." This led to the two preteens breathing huge sighs of relief. "All right, team, let's go meet up with Naruto, I'm sure he's anxious to get our training started." That said, the three kunoichi of Team Eight made their way out of the clearing where they'd been dodging boulders all morning and toward the team's designated meeting spot.

Upon arriving, to no one's surprise, they found Naruto waiting for them. Surprising all three of them, however, they found him sound asleep. From the way he was laying, it was evident Naruto had sat down next to a training post and fallen into an exhausted sleep while he was waiting for them. "So much for anxious to get started," Sakura commented wryly.

Hearing Sakura's voice, Naruto awoke and looked around groggily. "Oh, hey, guys," he said, yawning. "What's up?"

"Time for team training, that's what," Kurenai said back. Naruto grinned and hopped to his feet, seemingly ready for anything. Kurenai smiled, Hinata giggled, and Sakura just groaned at Naruto's antics. Kurenai heard what sounded like a bird call just then and looked up; sure enough, a messenger bird was flying overhead. _"Now? Well, I guess I knew it would be soon,"_ she thought. Turning to her team, she amended her previous statement. "Actually, we don't have time for that, we need to go get ourselves a mission for the day." This statement brought sighs of relief from both kunoichi of the team and a small groan from Naruto.

Sakura gave Naruto a glare. "Don't complain, Naruto, it's been a hard day for us already," she said.

Naruto chuckled. "Oh, come on, Sakura, I'm sure Granny Tsunade can't have trained you _that_ hard!" he said flippantly.

Sakura looked at him, aghast, then realized after a moment that he was teasing her. "I'm sure she trained us much harder than that old pervert Jiraiya trained _you_," she said back.

Naruto rolled his eyes, then turned to Hinata. "If you listened to Sakura over there, you'd think the old lady had you guys dodging boulders all morning or something," he said sarcastically.

Hinata looked at Naruto, surprise registering in her eyes that Naruto would be so disrespectful toward not only the Sannin but his godmother. "Um...she did have us dodging boulders all morning," she said after a moment.

Naruto looked a little surprised at that, then turned back to Sakura. "I still bet I learned more than you did," he told her.

Sakura just shook her head. "What am I gonna do with you?" she asked rhetorically.

Naruto shrugged. "I don't know, love me?" he said back. The silence that followed this statement was deafening, the tension overwhelming.

Hinata spoke up after a few moments, unable to take the silence. "Well, let's get going. We need to get a mission," she said. The tension and silence broken, Sakura and Naruto gave her a grateful smile, and Team Eight made their way to the Hokage Tower to get their D-rank mission for the day.

xxxxxx

Team Eight's D-rank mission for this afternoon turned out to consist of gathering the trash from a stream that flowed near the walls of the village. They had been doing this for about twenty minutes in companionable silence when Kurenai spoke up. "I have a meeting to attend," she told them. Her three students smiled and nodded, and Kurenai leapt into the trees.

It wasn't long after Kurenai's departure when Sakura wiped sweat from her forehead and spoke quietly to Hinata, who was next to her. Naruto didn't notice them talking. "I don't know about you, Hinata, but I am roasting here," Sakura complained. Hinata nodded and wiped sweat from her forehead too. "What say we ditch these heavy clothes? I know I've got my swimsuit on under this anyway, since we were going to go swimming after missions today anyhow."

Hinata blushed a bit. "I do, too, but what about Naruto?"

Sakura chuckled. "Hinata, he woke up at least once that I know of with his face buried in your cleavage, and you didn't mind that. I know you're not saying you don't want him to see you in your swimsuit."

Hinata blushed deeper. "Well, no, it's not that, but..." her voice trailed off and she fiddled with her fingers a bit.

Sakura grabbed Hinata's hands, forcing her to stop fidgeting. "It'll be fine, Hinata, trust me. Naruto won't be able to take his eyes off you." Hinata blushed, then finally nodded her agreement to Sakura's plan.

The two girls walked up to the bank and shucked their over clothes, leaving them in just their swimsuits, then dove under the water to cool off. When they surfaced, Naruto was looking at them in surprise. When he realized what they were wearing, or, more accurately, what they weren't wearing, he got a slight nosebleed and, just as Sakura predicted, his eyes were glued to Hinata.

"Cut it out, Naruto," Sakura told him, snapping him out of his trance. Naruto shook his head, and the three continued gathering trash.

A few minutes had passed in silence, when suddenly Sakura and Hinata heard a yelp from Naruto, followed by a splash. Turning, they saw Naruto being swept downstream by the current. Moving quickly, they caught the blond just before he got swept over a waterfall. "Thanks, guys," he said, blushing slightly.

"What on earth happened?" Hinata asked, concerned.

Naruto blushed deeper. "Well, I couldn't keep my eyes off you two, and I slipped on a rock or something in the water and got swept off my feet by the current," he admitted.

Hinata blushed at the thought that Naruto had been distracted by her, then both she and Sakura realized something else; Naruto had been so busy ogling them, he had almost led to their team failing a _D-rank!_ "Naruto," Sakura said, her voice stern. "We know we're gorgeous, but come on, you're going to have to get used to seeing us like this. We can't have you making us fail D-ranks because you're so busy staring at us!"

Naruto blushed again. "I know, I know, sorry," he said back.

xxxxxx

Unbeknownst to Team Eight, while they were out nearly failing a D-rank because of Naruto being a pervert, Kurenai was in a meeting with the other Jonin of the village who currently had Genin teams as well as Iruka and the Hokage. The Hokage spoke. "Now, I will hear recommendations for the Chunin Exams. First, Kakashi, Kurenai, and Asuma, step forward." At his command, the three named Jonin stepped forward. "You three have the nine rookies as your teams. Are there any among them you would recommend for the exams, despite their relative inexperience?"

Kakashi spoke first. "I lead Team Seven, Sasuke Uchiha, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame. And now I, Kakashi Hatake, recommend all three for the Chunin Selection Exams."

Next was Kurenai. "I lead Squad Eight, Naruto Uzumaki, Hinata Hyuga, and Sakura Haruno. And now I, Kurenai Yuhi, recommend all three." By now, all of the Jonin aside from those who led the rookies were muttering about the rarity of this.

Asuma spoke last. "My squad is Team Ten, Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka, and Choji Akimichi. And now I, Asuma Sarutobi, recommend all three." This caused the room to break into an uproar. There hadn't been rookies in the exams in five years, never mind this many. The Hokage, however, simply nodded like he'd expected this. Iruka looked like he was going to object, but the Hokage caught his eye, and the Chunin fell silent, though he didn't look happy about it.

"All right, then, and now for the rest of you," the Hokage said quietly. "Who among you would recommend your teams for the exams?"

The rest of the meeting passed in a relatively routine manner, some Jonin recommending their squads, some not. As they were leaving the room, Kurenai spoke to Iruka. "They're ready, Iruka," she said. Iruka looked at her in surprise. "I know you don't think Naruto in particular is ready for the exams, but he is, trust me."

"You seem certain," he said back. Kurenai nodded. "Well, I guess you would know."

Kurenai chuckled. "You heard about the mission we got back from a few days ago by now, I'm sure," she said. Iruka nodded, a confused look on his face. "You heard that it was raised from a C-rank to an A-rank because of concealed information on the client's part." Iruka nodded again. "Well, the information in question was that there was an A-rank assassin gunning for said client. Zabuza Momochi was the man's name." At this, Iruka looked stunned. In truth, he was now shocked Team Eight had made it back alive. "Naruto defeated Zabuza in single combat." Iruka looked at Kurenai in blatant disbelief. Kurenai nodded that she was in fact serious. "He didn't kill him, but he did defeat the man. Don't ask me how, it's not my place to say, but he did it."

Iruka smiled. _"Maybe they're ready after all,"_ he thought to himself. "Thank you, Kurenai," he said sincerely. "You've eased my fears somewhat. I'll look forward to seeing your squad in action." Kurenai smiled, and the two parted ways.

So it was that Teams Seven, Eight, and Ten were entered in their first Chunin Exams, even though they'd only been Genin a little over a month. It was anyone's guess whether they were really ready for them or not. _"I hope I'm not wrong in doing this,"_ Kurenai thought to herself.


	8. Confrontations of Love and War

Chapter 8

Hinata sighed deeply. Kurenai was running late this morning, which was far from normal for her. Naruto and Sakura were still feeling awkward around one another after that weird moment the other day. As for Hinata herself, despite the fact that she had kissed Naruto and knew for a fact that he was attracted to her, she was feeling rather depressed; Naruto's comment that day had unintentionally told her that he still harbored some feelings for Sakura. Not that Hinata was surprised by this, really, but having it shoved in her face like that was still depressing. _"Still,"_ she thought to herself, _"at least I know I have a chance with him. That's more than I could have said before we went to the Land of Waves."_ Taking a deep breath, the girl turned toward her teammates; her eyes were now determined rather than depressed. "Naruto?" she said.

Naruto looked up. He smiled at Hinata. He'd just been trying to figure out how he could approach the blue-haired girl. Ever since he'd let that comment slip the other day, he'd been feeling like a total heel; he hadn't meant it quite how everyone took it. He just hadn't thought about the implications of the comment until after he said it. Still, at least Hinata was talking to him now. "Yes, Hinata?" he asked, curious.

"Kurenai-sensei is running late...I'm starting to get a little worried," she said. "I know she should meet us here...but s-still, I was thinking maybe one of us should go look for her or something, just in case something's wrong."

Naruto pondered this for a moment, then turned a small smile on her. "Or...two of us could go...though maybe not in person," he said thoughtfully.

Hinata brightened. _"Why didn't I think of that?"_ she berated herself. "That's a great idea, Naruto!" she said. The two formed the cross hand sign. Two clones appeared nearby. The originals simply nodded to their clones, and the two vanished into the woods. The original duo sat down near a training post to relax and wait for their sensei to arrive.

Sakura came over to the two. "How will you know if they find her?" she asked, gesturing in the direction the two clones had gone. "I mean, obviously if she shows up, we'll know, but what if they find her and something _is_ wrong?"

Naruto smiled up at Sakura; he could tell their pink-haired teammate was trying to break up the tension between him and her. "If they find her, they'll dispel, and Hinata and I will get their memories. That's one of the benefits of the Shadow Clone Jutsu," he said. "Between that and them having their own chakra network and being solid, it's a much more complicated jutsu, but it's also much more worthwhile to actually use it...if you can."

Sakura scowled at the implication that she might not be able to use the jutsu that Naruto and Hinata seemed to use so effortlessly. "And why would anyone not be able to use it?" she asked, her voice slightly bitter. "You two certainly don't have a problem with it."

Hinata spoke up then. "Actually, Sakura, I wouldn't be able to perform even 16 Palms right now. The Shadow Clone Jutsu requires you to divide your chakra evenly between yourself and all your clones. That's why it's a Forbidden Jutsu, it's extremely dangerous if you don't have the reserves to handle it."

Sakura thought about that a minute, then nodded. "But you said you get their chakra back after they dispel, right?" she asked. Naruto nodded. "You mean any chakra they don't use, obviously, right?" He nodded again. "How much chakra would I need to have to be able to make a clone like that safely?"

Hinata activated her Byakugan and looked at Sakura a minute, then turned to Naruto, her eyes questioning. Naruto activated his Chigan and the Byakugan he'd copied and observed Sakura himself. He thought a moment, then, deactivating his Chigan, told Sakura, "You'd need to increase your reserves by at least 30% before you could safely make even one clone."

Sakura nodded and was about to speak again when suddenly Naruto and Hinata both tensed and looked at one another in shock. Naruto turned to Sakura and simply said, "They found Kurenai-sensei. She needs help." That said, the three took off. As the team ran toward the location where their sensei had been found, Naruto and Hinata began to blush furiously as their clones' memories returned to them. Sakura never noticed.

The Clones' Memories

As Naruto and Hinata's clones left the clearing where their originals and Sakura remained, an awkward silence descended on the two. The two turned toward one another on several occasions, mouths open to speak, but neither could seem to actually get anything out. Eventually, Naruto's clone took a deep breath, then said, "Hinata, I'm really sorry about the other day...what I said to Sakura, I mean."

Hinata's clone turned to him in surprise. Sighing herself, she answered, "There's no reason to be sorry, Naruto, I know you like Sakura and want to be with her. It's perfectly natural you'd say that."

Much to her surprise, Naruto rested a hand on her shoulder. "That's just it, though, I didn't mean that the way you guys took it. I care for Sakura, yeah, but not like that. I got over my crush on her some time ago, and the way she scurried off to try to find Sasuke the first day we were a team pretty much sealed that one," he said back. "I want Sakura to care for me in return, that's all I meant. I just didn't think about what I was saying until after I said it."

Hinata blushed a bit. _"That does sound like Naruto. He doesn't always think before he speaks,"_ Hinata thought to herself. _"But why is it so important to him that I know that's all it was? Does he really like me now? Could it be he...wants to be with me?"_ Turning to Naruto, she asked quietly, "But why tell me all this? Shouldn't you be telling Sakura, so she knows what you meant?"

"Because I hurt you. I'll tell Sakura in time, but I upset you when I said that, and I didn't mean to...I've come to care a lot about you, Hinata, and I don't want to see you upset because of something I said," he told her. Taking a deep breath and releasing it slowly, he muttered to himself, "And because I'm afraid I've ruined my chance with you."

Naruto didn't intend Hinata to hear this, but she did. Reaching over and resting a hand on his shoulder, the shy girl said softly, "You haven't." Both Genin blushed deeply, and the two fell into a mutual silence for several minutes, simply wandering around the village looking for their wayward sensei.

Naruto and Hinata had ended up in the middle of the village with no sign of their sensei, when suddenly they heard a slight gasp that sounded a little _too_ familiar. Looking around the corner, they found Kurenai facing off with a boy in a hooded outfit that made him look like a cat and with makeup of some kind covering his face. After observing for a minute, the two discovered that Kurenai was wrapped in some kind of chakra strings and couldn't do anything to fight back against the boy, so the two clones dispelled.

Memory End

Along with the memories of that clone, Naruto had also received a second set of memories. _"Huh, I had almost completely forgotten about _that_ clone,"_ he thought. _"I guess its mission was finally accomplished."_ The clone in question was one he'd created the night he'd stolen the Scroll of Sealing from the Hokage's office. He shuddered as memories of nights spent on the desert came back to him in full force, then smiled as the memories of the rest of that clone's lifespan returned to him as well. _"Good, that wasn't a waste."_

Naruto, Hinata, and Sakura arrived on the scene a short time after receiving the clones' memories to find Kurenai facing off with the boy who had trapped her before. "What the hell is going on?" Naruto yelled.

"It's none of your business! This is a _personal_ matter between the two of us. Butt out!" the boy growled in response. "We're just getting started." The lewd look on the boy's face made Naruto sick.

"Kurenai-sensei is so far out of your league, it's not even funny," the blond said back. "She even got out of your jutsu before we could get here to help her."

From behind the boy, a blond girl with her hair in four ponytails spoke. "Come on, Kankuro, let it go, this isn't worth getting arrested over! You just bumped into her, and now we've found out she's a Jonin," she said.

The boy, now named Kankuro, scowled and snarled back, "Come off it, Temari, I'm not letting her go until I'm satisfied."

Suddenly, a third voice spoke up which made Kankuro and Temari freeze and stiffen. "Kankuro, leave her alone," the voice said. Naruto turned toward the voice's owner and gave the redheaded boy a small grin. The boy was standing upside down on the bottom of the branch of a nearby tree. Hinata and Sakura looked at the boy, fear in their eyes at how quietly he had shown up.

The redhead then vanished in a swirl of sand and reappeared in front of Kankuro and Temari. Kankuro's face took on a look of abject fear as he said, "Sorry, Gaara, I won't cause any more trouble," and backed away from Kurenai.

Gaara then turned to Naruto and said simply, gesturing at Hinata and Sakura, "Your teammates?" Naruto nodded. Gaara turned to Kankuro and Temari again. "If I ever hear that you two have been messing with my friend's teammates or sensei again, I _will_ kill you," he said simply, then turned and walked away.

Naruto chuckled at the boy and said, "Nice to see you again, Gaara," then turned and walked away as well. The boys' respective teams followed them. Once they were out of earshot, Naruto turned to Kurenai and asked, "Are you entering us in the Chunin Exams, Kurenai-sensei?"

"I am indeed, Naruto, why do you ask?" she asked him in return.

Naruto grinned. "It should be fun to see which jinchuriki is stronger," he said simply, leaving both Sakura and Hinata to wonder what he meant. It took Kurenai a minute to figure out what he was talking about, after which she shivered as she realized just how much danger the village could be in if anything went wrong with those two.

xxxxxx

Team Eight spent an hour training together, Kurenai watching them sparring and continuing to practice the tree-climbing and water-walking exercises; Naruto needed to continue to improve his chakra control, and Sakura and Hinata were trying to build up their reserves. Kurenai called to them, and the three Genin came over to her. "I'm proud of you three," she said. She handed each of them a sheet of paper. "This is the application for the Chunin Exams. Turn it in tomorrow by four in room 301 of the Academy if you wish to enter. That's all for today, you should all rest, you'll need it for the exams."

The three Genin nodded and left. Kurenai smiled at them, then began to make her own way out of the clearing. "They're growing well," a voice said.

Kurenai jumped in surprise, then turned around when she heard someone drop to the ground. "Oh, Captain Yamato, it's you," she said.

Yamato nodded. "Please, just call me Yamato," he told her. "Sorry I didn't reveal myself sooner, I was assigned by the Hokage to keep an eye on you and your team."

Kurenai nodded. "I understand. Is there anything I can do for you, Yamato?" she asked.

"Not that I know of, I was just hoping to speak with you. Seeing as I've been assigned semi-permanently to your team, I think it'd be a good idea for you and I to get to know one another better," he said back.

"That's true enough," Kurenai replied, and the two departed the clearing together, talking quietly.

xxxxxx

Gaara sighed as he and his siblings returned to their hotel room. He knew he'd have to explain his actions earlier to his siblings eventually. Predictably, Temari was the first to broach the subject. "So, Gaara, since when do you have a friend?" she asked.

The redhead sighed again. Oh, well, nothing for it. "You remember that day...about a month ago, when I told you guys what happened the night I killed Uncle Yashamaru?" he asked. Temari and Kankuro nodded; it wasn't likely they'd ever forget that day. They'd both cried for some time after that...and the three siblings had felt like _real _siblings for the first time they could remember. "I met him that day...or, I guess I should say, I met his clone that day."

Flashback

_Gaara had just killed what was probably the hundredth assassin his father, the Kazekage, had sent after him in the last year. As he crushed the man with his sand, he sighed. _"Why does no one accept me?"_ he wondered to himself. _"No one ever sees me for me...they just see me as this monster...this killer. Why did things have to turn out like this?"_ Then he heard a voice behind him that said something that absolutely shocked him._

"_That is SO cool!" the voice said enthusiastically. Turning around, Gaara found himself face-to-face with a young blond boy wearing bright _orange_ of all things. "You can control sand?" the boy asked. Gaara nodded. "That is awesome!"_

_Gaara was in shock. "You mean...you're not afraid of me? You don't think I'm some kind of monster?"_

_The blond shook his head. "Nah, I can tell by looking at you that you're just like me," he said. "You've got something sealed inside you, and everyone fears you for it, right?" Gaara nodded. "Me too." Gaara looked at the boy in shock. "I'm Naruto, by the way."_

"_Naruto...you're...like me?" he asked. Naruto nodded. "But...how can that be?"_

_Naruto shrugged. "All I know is the Fourth Hokage sealed the Nine-Tailed Fox inside me when I was born, and my entire village has hated me for it ever since."_

Flashback End

"So, that's how we met," Gaara explained to his siblings. "He talked me into actually explaining some things to you that night...and he and I talked a lot after that and became friends. His clone dispelled just before we entered the Leaf Village today, and that was the real one we saw earlier...his name is Naruto Uzumaki...and he is my friend."

Temari and Kankuro smiled at their little brother for several minutes, then did something the redhead had never expected. The two hugged him. Gaara used his sand to hug them back; his small arms just weren't big enough for the job. Then the two pulled back. Kankuro asked, "But if he's your friend...how will you be able to fight against him? I mean...you'll have to for the plan to work, right?"

Gaara sighed. "Yes, I know. I've been thinking about that a lot...and I really don't know what I'm going to do. I'll figure it out when the time comes, I guess," he said. The three siblings sat down together, all of them worried about their future; it had never seemed so uncertain.

xxxxxx

Naruto, Hinata, and Sakura had agreed to eat dinner together. They were all excited and nervous about the upcoming exams. "So...we're all ready for the exams, right?" Naruto asked.

Hinata sighed. "I'm ready. I'm sure we'll be fine so long as we stick together," she said. Naruto nodded in agreement, and the two looked to Sakura.

Sakura took a deep breath. "Hey, we faced Zabuza, right?" she said. The other two smiled and nodded. "If we can face that together, we can face this, too! After all, he was a Jonin, everyone at the exams will be Genin!"

Naruto nodded, then cautioned his teammates, "That's true, but we can't underestimate them. That would be an error that could easily prove fatal. We can only hope the others underestimate _us,_ but we _cannot_ do the same."

Hinata and Sakura nodded. Sakura gave her teammates a smile. "You're right, Naruto," she said. "But still, I'm sure we'll be fine out there. After all, we'll all be together, right?" The other two nodded, then the three fell into companionable silence as their meals were delivered to them.

Naruto smiled as he watched his two teammates. _"I've finally got some real, good friends,"_ he thought. _"They'll always be at my side and watching my back...and I'll do the same for them."_ Taking a deep breath, he finished his thought, _"I'll even put my life on the line for them."_ He then returned his focus to his food, and the three finished their meal. Nothing was said until after they had finished and left the restaurant; nothing needed to be said.

As the team was leaving the restaurant, Naruto spoke up for the first time in several minutes. "I'm glad you two are my teammates," he said simply.

Hinata and Sakura smiled at him. "I'm sure I speak for both of us," Hinata said. "We're both glad you're on our team, too, Naruto." Sakura nodded.

Naruto smiled at both of them, his blue eyes bright. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow at the Academy," he said, then turned and ran off toward his apartment. He wasn't particularly anxious to get home, but he also didn't want his teammates to see the happy tears that he could no longer hold back streaming from his eyes.

Sakura turned to Hinata and smiled. "Have you noticed yet?" she asked. Hinata looked at Sakura, confused. "Oh, come on, Hinata, it's obvious he likes you. He can't seem to take his eyes off you half the time, and whenever he looks at you, his eyes brighten."

Hinata blushed a bit. "You think so?" she asked. Sakura nodded. Hinata sighed. "I hope you're right, Sakura, I really do." She smiled at the pink-haired girl, her eyes happy. "I'm just glad I'm on his team...and that you and I are getting to be friends."

Sakura smiled back. "Yeah, we are, aren't we?" she said. Hinata nodded, still smiling. Sakura sighed, her eyes slightly forlorn. "You're getting Naruto's attention, we're getting to be friends...if only Sasuke would notice me, everything would be perfect."

Hinata smiled at her friend and rested a hand on her shoulder. "If he doesn't, maybe he's just not the one for you, Sakura," she said back. "I need you to promise me something, though," she added seriously. Sakura raised an eyebrow at Hinata, her eyes curious. "If something ever happens where you have to choose between Sasuke and Naruto...please promise me you'll choose Naruto."

Sakura smiled. "Naruto's like a little brother to me," she told Hinata. "If Sasuke ever attacks Naruto...I'll not only save Naruto if I can, I'll never even think of Sasuke ever again." Hinata looked surprised. "I've been thinking about Naruto a lot lately, especially since that...event the other day," she explained. "I realized the goofy kid has become something special to me, and I don't want to see him hurt." She closed her eyes a moment, then continued, "And the same goes for you. You're becoming like the little sister I never had...and I'll do whatever I can to protect both of you." She clenched her fist in determination.

Hinata blushed and smiled at her friend. "I'm sure the same goes for both me and Naruto for you, Sakura," she said seriously.

Sakura smiled back. "Yeah, I'm sure you're right, Hinata. Especially after I saw how Naruto reacted when you got hurt on the way to the Land of Waves, I'm completely sure he'd protect us with his life if he had to...so we have to do the same for him," she said, her voice filled with emotion.

Hinata smiled wider. "And for each other," she said simply.

"Yes," Sakura agreed. "And for each other."


End file.
